[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1444 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1444
To amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of reverse auctions
for procurements of covered contracts.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 18, 2015
Mr. Hanna (for himself, Mr. Chabot, and Ms. Meng) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of reverse auctions
for procurements of covered contracts.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Commonsense Contracting Act of
2015''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, reverse
auctions may improve the Federal Government's procurement of
commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing
prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON REVERSE AUCTIONS FOR COVERED CONTRACTS.
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 47 (15 U.S.C. 631 note) as
section 48; and
(2) by inserting after section 46 the following new
section:
``SEC. 47. REVERSE AUCTIONS PROHIBITED FOR COVERED CONTRACTS.
``(a) In General.--In the case of a covered contract described in
subsection (c), reverse auction methods may not be used if the award of
the contract is to be made under--
``(1) section 8(a);
``(2) section 8(m);
``(3) section 15(a);
``(4) section 15(j);
``(5) section 31; or
``(6) section 36.
``(b) Limitations on Using Reverse Auctions.--
``(1) Decisions regarding use of a reverse auction.--The
following decisions are the responsibility of the contracting
officer and may not be delegated to any person except for
another contracting officer who meets the training requirements
of paragraph (2):
``(A) A decision to use reverse auction methods as
part of the competition for award of a covered
contract.
``(B) Any decision made after the decision
described in subsection (A) regarding the appropriate
evaluation criteria, the inclusion of vendors, the
acceptability of vendor submissions (including
decisions regarding timeliness), and the selection of
the winner.
``(2) Training required.--Only a contracting officer who
has received training on the appropriate use and supervision of
reverse auction methods of contracting may supervise or use
such methods in a procurement for a covered contract. The
training shall be provided by, or similar to the training
provided by, the Defense Acquisition University as described in
section 824 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public
Law 113-291).
``(3) Number of offers; revisions to bids.--A Federal
agency may not award a covered contract using a reverse auction
method if only one offer is received or if offerors do not have
the ability to submit revised bids with lower prices throughout
the course of the auction.
``(4) Technically acceptable offers.--A Federal agency
awarding a covered contract using a reverse auction method
shall evaluate the technical acceptability of offers only as
technically acceptable or unacceptable.
``(5) Use of price rankings.--A Federal agency may not
award a covered contract using a reverse auction method if at
any time during the award process the Federal agency misinforms
an offeror about the price ranking of the offeror's last offer
submitted in relation to offers submitted by other offerors.
``(6) Use of third-party agents.--If a Federal agency uses
a third party agent to assist with the award of covered
contracts using a reverse auction method, the Federal agency
shall ensure that--
``(A) inherently governmental functions (as such
term is used in section 2303 of title 41, United States
Code) are not performed by private contractors,
including by the third party agent;
``(B) information on the past contract performance
of offerors created by the third party agent and shared
with the Federal agency is collected, maintained, and
shared in compliance with section 1126 of title 41,
United States Code;
``(C) information on whether an offeror is a
responsible source (as defined in section 113 of title
41, United States Code) that is created by the third
party agent and shared with the Federal agency is
shared with the offeror and complies with section
8(b)(7) of this Act; and
``(D) disputes between the third party agent and an
offeror may not be used to justify a determination that
an offeror is not a responsible source (as defined in
section 113 of title 41, United States Code) or to
otherwise restrict the ability of an offeror to compete
for the award of a contract or task or delivery order.
``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Contracting officer.--The term `contracting officer'
has the meaning given that term in section 2101(1) of title 41,
United States Code.
``(2) Covered contract.--The term `covered contract' means
a contract--
``(A) for design and construction services;
``(B) for goods purchased to protect Federal
employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians
from bodily harm; or
``(C) for goods or services other than those goods
or services described in subparagraph (A) or (B)--
``(i) to be awarded based on factors other
than price and technical responsibility; or
``(ii) if awarding the contract requires
the contracting officer to conduct discussions
with the offerors about their offer.
``(3) Design and construction services.--The term `design
and construction services' means--
``(A) site planning and landscape design;
``(B) architectural and interior design;
``(C) engineering system design;
``(D) performance of construction work for
facility, infrastructure, and environmental restoration
projects;
``(E) delivery and supply of construction materials
to construction sites;
``(F) construction, alteration, or repair,
including painting and decorating, of public buildings
and public works; and
``(G) architectural and engineering services as
defined in section 1102 of title 40, United States
Code.
``(4) Reverse auction.--The term `reverse auction' means,
with respect to procurement by an agency, an auction between a
group of offerors who compete against each other by submitting
offers for a contract or task or delivery order with the
ability to submit revised offers with lower prices throughout
the course of the auction.''.
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