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

Subtitle D — Provisions Relating to Commercial Items

P. L. 115-

House Conference Report. 115-874

(a) In General.—Section 846 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115–91; 41 U.S.C. 1901 note) is amended—

(1) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(5) A procurement of a product made through a commercial e-commerce portal under the program established pursuant to subsection (a) is deemed to satisfy requirements for full and open competition pursuant to section 2304 of title 10, United States Code, and section 3301 of title 41, United States Code, if—

“(A) there are offers from two or more suppliers of such a product or similar product with substantially the same physical, functional, or performance characteristics on the online marketplace; and

“(B) the Administrator establishes procedures to implement subparagraph (A) and notifies Congress at least 30 days before implementing such procedures.”; and

(2) in subsection (h), by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:

“(3) agree not to use, for pricing, marketing, competitive, or other purposes, any information, including any Government-owned data, such as purchasing trends or spending habits, related to a product from a third-party supplier featured on the commercial e-commerce portal or the transaction of such product, except as necessary to comply with the requirements of the program established in subsection (a).”.

(b) Sense Of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) the implementation of any e-commerce portal under such section 846 to procure commercial products will be done in a manner that will enhance competition, expedite procurement, and ensure reasonable pricing of commercial products;

(2) the implementation of the e-commerce portal will be completed with multiple contracts with multiple commercial e-commerce portal providers; and

(3) the Administrator of the General Services Administration should require any e-commerce portal provider to take the necessary precautions to safeguard data of all other e-commerce portal providers and any third-party suppliers.

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 834) that would amend section 846 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115-91) to allow the Administrator of the General Services Administration to develop procedures for procurement through a commercial e-commerce portal. The procedures must satisfy the requirements for competitive procedures outlined in title 41, United States Code. Additionally, this section would require these procedures to be submitted to the congressional defense committees 30 days prior to implementation. This section would also amend titles 10 and 41, United States Code, by increasing the micro-purchase threshold for procurement through a commercial e-commerce portal from $10,000 to $25,000.

The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with an amendment that maintains the micro-purchase threshold at $10,000.

H. Rept. 115-676

Section 834--Modifications to Procurement Through Commercial E-Commerce Portals

This section would amend section 846 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115- 91) to allow the Administrator of the General Services Administration to develop procedures for procurement through a commercial e-commerce portal. The procedures must satisfy the requirements for competitive procedures outlined in title 41, United States Code. Additionally, this section would require these procedures to be submitted to the congressional defense committees 30 days prior to implementation.

This section would also amend titles 10 and 41, United States Code, by increasing the micro-purchase threshold for procurement through a commercial e-commerce portal from $10,000 to $25,000.

The committee notes that Public Law 115-91 authorized the Office of Management and Budget to develop a program managed by the General Services Administration to procure commercial products through e-commerce portals. The committee expects the commercial e-commerce portals would simplify and streamline the defense acquisition process as well as provide better transparency.