[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 679 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 679
To amend title 41, United States Code, to improve the manner in which
Federal contracts for design and construction services are awarded, to
prohibit the use of reverse auctions for design and construction
services procurements, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 24, 2017
Mr. Meadows (for himself, Mr. Graves of Missouri, and Mr. Russell)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform
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A BILL
To amend title 41, United States Code, to improve the manner in which
Federal contracts for design and construction services are awarded, to
prohibit the use of reverse auctions for design and construction
services procurements, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Construction
Consensus Procurement Improvement Act of 2017''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Congressional findings.
Sec. 3. Design-build construction process improvement.
Sec. 4. Prohibition on the use of a reverse auction for the award of a
contract for design and construction
services.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The acquisition procedures that are often used
effectively to procure products and other forms of services are
not always appropriate for the procurement of design and
construction services.
(2) Federal procurement officials often adopt contracting
techniques from the private sector and have used those
techniques effectively to procure products and services.
(3) Design-build is a procurement technique Federal
officials have adopted from the private sector that has worked
well for the procurement of design and construction services.
(4) The current statutory framework for design-build could
benefit from legislative refinement.
(5) Reverse auctions are another procurement technique
Federal officials have adopted from the private sector and used
successfully to award contracts for the procurement of products
that are commercially equivalent to commodities.
(6) Despite their success in other contexts, reverse
auctions are generally inappropriate for the procurement of
design and construction services, given the unique nature of
each such project.
SEC. 3. DESIGN-BUILD CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IMPROVEMENT.
(a) Civilian Contracts.--
(1) In general.--Section 3309(b) of title 41, United States
Code, is amended to read as follows:
``(b) Criteria for Use.--
``(1) Contracts with a value of at least $3,000,000.--Two-
phase selection procedures shall be used for entering into a
contract for the design and construction of a public building,
facility, or work if a contracting officer determines that the
project has a value of $3,000,000 or greater.
``(2) Contracts with a value less than $3,000,000.--For any
project that a contracting officer determines has a value of
less than $3,000,000, the contracting officer shall make a
determination on whether two-phase selection procedures are
appropriate for use for entering into a contract for the design
and construction of a public building, facility, or work if--
``(A) the contracting officer anticipates that 3 or
more offers will be received for the contract;
``(B) design work must be performed before an
offeror can develop a price or cost proposal for the
contract;
``(C) the offeror will incur a substantial amount
of expense in preparing the offer; and
``(D) the contracting officer has considered
information such as--
``(i) the extent to which the project
requirements have been adequately defined;
``(ii) the time constraints for delivery of
the project;
``(iii) the capability and experience of
potential contractors;
``(iv) the suitability of the project for
use of the two-phase selection procedures;
``(v) the capability of the agency to
manage the two-phase selection process; and
``(vi) other criteria established by the
agency.''.
(2) Annual reports.--
(A) In general.--Not later than November 30 of
2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, the head of each
executive agency shall compile 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, during the fiscal year ending in such
calendar year, in which--
(i) more than 5 finalists were selected for
phase-two requests for proposals; or
(ii) the contract or order was awarded
without using two-phase selection procedures.
(B) Public availability.--The Director of the
Office of Management and Budget shall facilitate public
access to the reports, including by posting them on a
publicly available Internet website. A notice of the
availability of each report shall be published in the
Federal Register.
(b) GAO Reports.--Not later than 270 days after the deadline for
each annual report under subsection (a)(2)(A), the Comptroller General
of the United States shall issue a report analyzing the compliance of
each executive agency with the requirements of section 3309 of title
41, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1).
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF A REVERSE AUCTION FOR THE AWARD OF A
CONTRACT FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that, in contrast to a traditional
auction in which the buyers bid up the price, sellers bid down the
price in a reverse auction.
(b) Prohibition.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be
amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions as part of the two-
phase selection procedures for awarding contracts for design and
construction services.
(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
(1) the term ``design and construction services'' means--
(A) site planning and landscape design;
(B) architectural and engineering services (as
defined in section 1102 of title 40, United States
Code);
(C) interior design;
(D) performance of substantial construction work
for facility, infrastructure, and environmental
restoration projects;
(E) delivery and supply of construction materials
to construction sites; or
(F) construction or substantial alteration of
public buildings or public works; and
(2) the term ``reverse auction'' means, with respect to any
procurement by an executive agency--
(A) a real-time auction conducted through an
electronic medium among 2 or more offerors who compete
by submitting bids for a supply or service contract, or
a delivery order, task order, or purchase order under
the contract, with the ability to submit revised lower
bids at any time before the closing of the auction; and
(B) the award of the contract, delivery order, task
order, or purchase order to the offeror, in whole or in
part, based on the price obtained through the auction
process.
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