VI. Authority

Each party shall be represented at the negotiations at all time by one duly authorized chief negotiator/chief spokesperson who is prepared and authorized to discuss and negotiate on matters subject to negotiations and to sign off on agreements for their respective party.

VII.  Reopening

A. Questions of Negotiability

1. If any proposal is claimed to be nonnegotiable by either party and subsequently determined to be negotiable, or the declaring party withdraws its allegations of nonnegotiability, the proposal will, upon request, be reopened within a reasonable period of time. Such request must be made within 60 calendar days.  Nothing in this section will preclude the right of judicial appeal.
   
2. This procedure does not preclude the parties from revising any proposals to overcome questions of negotiability during the period of  negotiations.

B. Any provisions disapproved by the Agency head review may be referred to the FLRA by the Union.  Any provision held negotiable will be incorporated into the agreement. The parties will commence negotiations  within a reasonable period after receipt of an FLRA decision sustaining the Agency's determination of nonnegotiability.

VIII. All timeframes in these ground rules may be modified by mutual consent.