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TITLE
VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED
MATTERS
Subtitle
C—Amendments to General Contracting Authorities, Procedures, and
Limitations |
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SEC. 834. WAIVERS
TO EXTEND TASK ORDER CONTRACTS FOR ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE
SERVICES.
(a) Defense Contracts-
(1) WAIVER AUTHORITY- The head
of an agency may issue a waiver to extend a task order
contract entered into under section 2304b of title 10, United
States Code, for a period not exceeding 10 years, through five
one-year options, if the head of the agency determines in
writing--
(A) that the contract
provides engineering or technical services of such a unique
and substantial technical nature that award of a new
contract would be harmful to the continuity of the program
for which the services are performed;
(B) that award of a new
contract would create a large disruption in services
provided to the Department of Defense; and
(C) that the Department of
Defense would, through award of a new contract, endure
program risk during critical program stages due to loss of
program corporate knowledge of ongoing program activities.
(2) DELEGATION- The authority
of the head of an agency under paragraph (1) may be delegated
only to the senior procurement executive of the agency.
(3) REPORT- Not later than
April 1, 2007, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the
Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of
Representatives a report on advisory and assistance services.
The report shall include the following information:
(A) The methods used by the
Department of Defense to identify a contract as an advisory
and assistance services contract, as defined in section
2304b of title 10, United States Code.
(B) The number of such
contracts awarded by the Department during the five-year
period preceding the date of the enactment of this Act.
(C) The average annual
expenditures by the Department for such contracts.
(D) The average length of
such contracts.
(E) The number of such
contracts recompeted and awarded to the previous award
winner.
(4) PROHIBITION ON USE OF
AUTHORITY BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IF REPORT NOT SUBMITTED-
The head of an agency may not issue a waiver under paragraph
(1) if the report required by paragraph (3) is not submitted
by the date set forth in that paragraph.
(b) Civilian Agency Contracts-
(1) WAIVER AUTHORITY- The head
of an executive agency may issue a waiver to extend a task
order contract entered into under section 303I of the Federal
Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C.
253i) for a period not exceeding 10 years, through five
one-year options, if the head of the agency determines in
writing--
(A) that the contract
provides engineering or technical services of such a unique
and substantial technical nature that award of a new
contract would be harmful to the continuity of the program
for which the services are performed;
(B) that award of a new
contract would create a large disruption in services
provided to the executive agency; and
(C) that the executive
agency would, through award of a new contract, endure
program risk during critical program stages due to loss of
program corporate knowledge of ongoing program activities.
(2) DELEGATION- The authority
of the head of an executive agency under paragraph (1) may be
delegated only to the Chief Acquisition Officer of the agency
(or the senior procurement executive in the case of an agency
for which a Chief Acquisition Officer has not been appointed
or designated under section 16(a) of the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 414(a))).
(3) REPORT- Not later than
April 1, 2007, the Administrator for Federal Procurement
Policy shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Government Reform of the House of Representatives a report on
advisory and assistance services. The report shall include the
following information:
(A) The methods used by
executive agencies to identify a contract as an advisory and
assistance services contract, as defined in section 303I(i)
of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of
1949 (41 U.S.C. 253i(i)).
(B) The number of such
contracts awarded by each executive agency during the
five-year period preceding the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(C) The average annual
expenditures by each executive agency for such contracts.
(D) The average length of
such contracts.
(E) The number of such
contracts recompeted and awarded to the previous award
winner.
(4) PROHIBITION ON USE OF
AUTHORITY BY EXECUTIVE AGENCIES IF REPORT NOT SUBMITTED- The
head of an executive agency may not issue a waiver under
paragraph (1) if the report required by paragraph (3) is not
submitted by the date set forth in that paragraph.
(c) Termination of Authority- A
waiver may not be issued under this section after December 31,
2011.
(d) Comptroller General Review-
(1) REPORT REQUIREMENT- Not
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the committees
described in paragraph (3) a report on the use of advisory and
assistance services contracts by the Federal Government.
(2) DEFENSE AND CIVILIAN
AGENCY CONTRACTS COVERED- The report shall cover both of the
following:
(A) Advisory and assistance
services contracts as defined in section 2304b of title 10,
United States Code.
(B) Advisory and assistance
services contracts as defined in section 303I(i) of the
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41
U.S.C. 253i(i)).
(3) MATTERS COVERED- The
report shall address the following issues:
(A) The extent to which
executive agencies and elements of the Department of Defense
require advisory and assistance services for periods of
greater than five years.
(B) The extent to which such
advisory and assistance services are provided by the same
contractors under recurring contracts.
(C) The rationale for
contracting for advisory and assistance services that will
be needed on a continuing basis, rather than performing the
services inside the Federal Government.
(D) The contract types and
oversight mechanisms used by the Federal Government in
contracts for advisory and assistance services and the
extent to which such contract types and oversight mechanisms
are adequate to protect the interests of the Government and
taxpayers.
(E) The actions taken by the
Federal Government to prevent organizational conflicts of
interest and improper personal services contracts in its
contracts for advisory and assistance services.
(4) COMMITTEES- The committees
described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) The Committees on Armed
Services and on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
of the Senate.
(B) The Committees on Armed
Services and on Government Reform of the House of
Representatives.
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Waivers to extend task order contracts for advisory
and assistance services (sec. 834)
The House bill contained a provision (sec.
824) that would allow the head of an agency
to issue a waiver to extend an Advisory and
Assistance Services (AAS) contract up to 10
years through 5 one-year options provided
that the contract meets a specific set of criteria.
The Senate amendment contained no similar
provision.
The Senate recedes with an amendment
that would limit delegation of the waiver authority
to the senior procurement executive
of the agency, and modify the reporting requirements.
The modified reporting requirement
would include separate examinations
conducted for the Department of Defense and
civilian agencies to review methods used to
identify a contract as an AAS contract, the
number of such contracts awarded during the
preceding 5 years, average expenditures and
length of such contracts, and the number of
such contracts recompeted and then awarded
to the previous performer. The amendment
would also require a General Accountability
Office report on Federal Government rationale
for the use and oversight of AAS contracts. |
SECTION 824--WAIVERS TO EXTEND
TASK ORDER CONTRACTS FOR ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES
This section would amend section
2304b(b) of title 10, United States Code, and section
253i(b) of
title 41, United States Code, to allow the head of an agency to
issue a waiver to extend an Advisory and Assistance Services (AAS)
contract up to ten years maximum through five one-year options,
if he determines in writing that the contract provides
engineering or technical services of such a unique and
substantial technical nature that recompetition is harmful to the
continuity of the program; that recompetition would create a
large disruption in ongoing support due to prime contract
recompetition when the Department of Defense has a successfully
performing prime contractor; and the Department would endure
program risk during critical program stages due to loss of
program corporate knowledge of ongoing program activities.
The committee is concerned about
the Department's growing reliance on AAS contracts. This section
would require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to the
Senate Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on
Armed Services by April 1, 2007. The report would include the
following information:
(1) Methods used by the
Department to identify a contract as an AAS contract;
(2) Number of AAS contracts
awarded by the Department in the five years prior to the
enactment of this Act;
(3) Average annual expenditures
by the Department for AAS contracts;
(4) Average length of AAS
contracts;
(5) Number of AAS contracts
recompeted and awarded to the previous award winner;
(6) Number of AAS contractors
who previously qualified as a small business but no longer
qualify as a small business for a recompetition;
(7) Number of AAS contracts
required for a period of greater than five years and a
justification as to why those services are required for greater
than five years, including rationale for not performing the
service inside the Department;
(8) Percentage of AAS contracts
awarded by the Department in the five years prior to the
enactment of this Act for assistance in the introduction and
transfer of engineering and technical knowledge for fielded
systems, equipment, and components; and
(9) Steps taken by the
Department to prevent organizational conflicts of interest in
the use of AAS contracts.
This waiver authority would be
ineffective if the Secretary of Defense fails to issue the
required report by April 1, 2007.
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