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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle B--Amendments to General Contracting Authorities, Procedures, and Limitation

P. L. 111-

House Conference Report 111-288

    Section 2455(c)(1) of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Such term includes subcontracts at any tier, other than subcontracts for commercially available off-the-shelf items (as defined in section 35(c) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 431(c))), except that in the case of a contract for commercial items, such term includes only first-tier subcontracts.''.

   The House bill contained a provision (sec. 814) that would clarify the applicability of a suspension or debarment decision to the award of subcontracts.

   The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

   The Senate recedes with an amendment that would provide that a decision to suspend or debar a contractor applies to subcontracts at any tier, other than: (1) subcontracts for commercially available off-the-shelf items; and (2) subcontracts (other than first-tier subcontracts) under contracts for commercial items.

   The conferees note that contractor representatives have expressed concern about due process and coordination between federal agencies in suspension and debarment decisions. Section 2 of Executive Order 12549 requires federal agencies to follow government-wide criteria and government-wide minimum due process procedures when they act to debar or suspend contractors. The conferees expect the Department of Defense and other affected agencies to review these procedures to ensure that: (1) federal agencies coordinate with other affected federal agencies on suspension or debarment decisions, as appropriate; and (2) contractors are notified of the basis for suspension or debarment decisions and provided an opportunity to respond as early as practicable, consistent with the fundamental purpose of protecting the Federal Government and the taxpayers from unscrupulous contractors.

House Report 111-166 - NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010

SECTION 814--CLARIFICATION OF UNIFORM SUSPENSION AND DEBARMENT REQUIREMENT

This section would amend section 2455 of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-355) to clarify that regulations regarding suspension and debarment procedures required by section 2455 should apply to subcontracts at any tier.