S. 2652 — Introduced in Senate

II 113th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2652 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 24, 2014 Mrs. Fischer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To improve the design-build process in Federal contracting. 1. Design-build construction process improvement (a) Civilian contracts Section 3309 of title 41, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (d), by striking The maximum number specified in the solicitation shall not exceed 5 unless the agency determines with respect to and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting the following: The maximum number specified in the solicitation shall not exceed 5 unless the head of the contracting activity approves the contracting officer's justification that an individual solicitation must have greater than 5 finalists to be in the Federal Government’s interest. The contracting officer shall provide written documentation of how a maximum number of offerors exceeding 5 is consistent with the purposes and objectives of the two-phase selection process.; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: (f) Design and construction contracts Two-phase selection procedures shall be used for entering into a contract for the design and construction of a public building, facility, or work when a contracting officer determines that the contract has a value of $750,000 or greater, as adjusted for inflation in accordance with section 1908 of title 41, United States Code. . (b) Defense contracts Section 2305a(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (d) by striking The maximum number specified in the solicitation shall not exceed 5 unless the agency determines with respect to and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting the following: The maximum number specified in the solicitation shall not exceed 5 unless the head of the agency contracting activity approves the contracting officers justification that an individual solicitation must have greater than 5 finalists to be in the Federal Government’s interest. The contracting officer shall provide written documentation of how a maximum number of offerors exceeding 5 is consistent with the purposes and objectives of the two-phase selection process.; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: (f) Design and construction contracts Two-phase selection procedures shall be used for entering into a contract for the design and construction of a public building, facility, or work when a contracting officer determines that the contract has a value of $750,000 or greater, as adjusted for inflation in accordance with section 1908 of title 41, United States Code. . (c) Reports (1) Reports regarding agency actions (A) In general There shall be compiled for each executive agency an annual report of each instance in which the agency awarded a design-build contract pursuant to section 3309 of title 41, United States Code, or section 2305a(d) of title 10, United States Code, as amended by this Act, in which— (i) more than 5 finalists were selected for phase-two requests for competitive proposals; or (ii) the contract was awarded without using two-phase selection procedures. (B) Responsibility The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall designate the head of each executive agency to serve as executive agent for the compilation of the report required by subparagraph (A) and to facilitate public access to the report through electronic means. A notice of the availability of each report shall be published in the Federal Register. (C) Deadline The first report shall include reportable instances during the fiscal year that includes the date of enactment of this Act. Additional reports shall be issued for the subsequent 4 fiscal years. Each report shall be issued within 60 days after the end of the fiscal year covered by the report. (2) GAO report Not later than 270 days after the deadline for the final report required under paragraph (1), the Comptroller General of the United States shall issue a report analyzing the compliance of the various executive agencies in complying with the requirements of section 3309 of title 41, United States Code, and section 2305a(d) of title 10, United States Code, as applicable, as amended by this section. (3) Executive agency defined In this subsection, the term executive agency has the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United States Code.