# 6101.4 6101.4 Appeal file [Rule 4].
(a) *Filing.* Within 30 days after receiving the Board's docketing notice, the respondent shall file and serve all documents relevant to the appeal, including:
(1) The contracting officer's decision on the claim;
(2) The contract, including all pertinent specifications, amendments, plans, drawings, and incorporated proposals or parts thereof;
(3) All correspondence between the parties relevant to the appeal;
(4) The claim with any certification;
(5) Relevant affidavits, witness statements, or transcripts of testimony taken before the appeal;
(6) All documents relied on by the contracting officer to decide the claim; and
(7) Relevant internal memoranda, reports, and notes.
(b) *Submission and assembly of appeal file.* (1) Appeal file exhibits may be efiled (see the Board's website for size requirements), transferred via a secure file transfer method, or submitted on electronic storage medium. Appeal file exhibits may not be filed in EDS.
(2) Appeal file exhibits shall be in .pdf format or will be rejected. The appeal file index and each exhibit shall be separate documents with no subfolders or embedded documents.
(3) Appeal file exhibits shall be complete, legible, arranged in chronological order, numbered, and indexed. Parties shall avoid filing duplicative exhibits and shall number exhibits continuously and consecutively from one filing to the next, so that a complete appeal file consists of one set of consecutively numbered exhibits.
(4) Parties shall number the pages of each exhibit consecutively, unless an exhibit is already paginated in another logical manner.
(5) The appeal file index shall describe each exhibit by date and content.
(6) Parties may file documents *in camera* only by permission of the Board.
(7) Parties shall include in the appeal file all documents relevant to the merits of the case.
(c) *Supplementing.* Within the time set by the Board in an appeal, a party may file non-duplicative documents relevant to the claim, organized as instructed in Rule 4(b) (paragraph (b) of this section), starting with the next available exhibit number.
(d) *Submission by order.* The Board may order a party to supplement the appeal file, including by filing an exhibit in another format.
(e) *Status of exhibits.* The Board considers appeal file exhibits part of the record for decision under Rule 9(a) unless a party objects to an exhibit within the time set by the Board and the Board sustains the objection.
(f) *Other procedures.* The Board may postpone or waive the filing of an appeal file.
[91 FR 3791, Jan. 28, 2026]