[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 26 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.26

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Sunday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-one


                                 An Act


 
    To amend the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, to correct a 
 provision on the prohibition on the use of a reverse auction, 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.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Construction Consensus Procurement 
Improvement Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.
    Section 402 of title IV of division U of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2021, is amended to read as follows:


  ``prohibition on use of a reverse auction for the award of a contract 
   for complex, specialized, or substantial design and construction 
                                services

    ``Sec. 402. 
    ``(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
        ``(1) In contrast to a traditional auction in which the buyers 
    bid up the price, sellers bid down the price in a reverse auction.
        ``(2) Reverse auctions, while providing value for the vast 
    majority of Federal acquisitions, including certain construction-
    related acquisitions, are limited in value for complex, 
    specialized, or substantial design and construction services.
    ``(b) Reverse Auction Defined.--In this section, the term `reverse 
auction' means, with respect to any procurement by an executive agency, 
a real-time auction generally conducted through an electronic medium 
among two 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.
    ``(c) Prohibition.--
        ``(1) In general.--Not later than 270 days after the date of 
    the enactment of this section, the Federal Acquisition Regulation 
    shall be amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for 
    awarding contracts for complex, specialized, or substantial design 
    and construction services.
        ``(2) Applicability to acquisitions above the simplified 
    acquisition threshold.--The prohibition on reverse auctions for 
    complex, specialized, or substantial design and construction 
    services shall apply only to acquisitions above the simplified 
    acquisition threshold (SAT) for construction and design services 
    pursuant to part 36 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
    ``(d) Rulemaking for Complex, Specialized, or Substantial 
Services.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
this section, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall 
promulgate a definition of complex, specialized, or substantial design 
and construction services, which shall include--
        ``(1) site planning and landscape design;
        ``(2) architectural and engineering services (as defined in 
    section 1102 of title 40, United States Code);
        ``(3) interior design;
        ``(4) performance of substantial construction work for 
    facility, infrastructure, and environmental restoration projects; 
    and
        ``(5) construction or substantial alteration of public 
    buildings or public works.
    ``(e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to restrict the use of reverse auctions for the procurement 
of other goods and services except as specifically provided for under 
this section.
    ``(f) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Administrator of General Services shall 
submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 
Representatives a report on the effectiveness of this section in 
delivering complex, specialized, or substantial design and construction 
services to the United States Government.''.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
    The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying 
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by 
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional 
Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 
such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.