S.Amdt. 709

SA 709. Mr. PORTMAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle I of title VIII, add the following:

SEC. 811. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF A REVERSE AUCTION FOR THE
AWARD OF A CONTRACT FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
SERVICES.

(a) Prohibition.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation
shall be amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for
awarding contracts for design and construction services.
(b) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``design and construction services'' means--
(A) site planning and landscape design;
(B) architectural and engineering services (as defined in
section 1102 of title 40, United States Code);
(C) interior design;
(D) performance of substantial construction work for
facility, infrastructure, and environmental restoration
projects;
(E) delivery and supply of construction materials to
construction sites; or
(F) construction or substantial alteration of public
buildings or public works; and
(2) the term ``reverse auction'' means, with respect to any
procurement by an executive agency--
(A) a real-time auction conducted through an electronic
medium among 2 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; and
(B) the award of the contract, delivery order, task order,
or purchase order to the offeror, in whole or in part, based
on the price obtained through the auction process.
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