H.R. 4094 – Contracting Data and Bundling Accountability Act of 2014

Union Calendar No. 302

113th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 4094

[Report No. 113–410]

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 26, 2014

Mr. Graves of Missouri introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

April 9, 2014

Additional sponsors: Ms. Chu, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Hanna, Ms. Meng, Mr. Mulvaney, and Mr. Murphy of Florida

April 9, 2014

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic

For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 26, 2014

A BILL

To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to develop and implement a plan to improve the quality of data reported on bundled and consolidated contracts, and for other purposes.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Contracting Data and Bundling Accountability Act of 2014.

Plan for improving data on bundled and consolidated contracts

Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

(s)

Data quality improvement plan

(1)

In general

Not later than the first day of fiscal year 2016, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Small Business Procurement Advisory Council, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration shall develop a plan to improve the quality of data reported on bundled and consolidated contracts in the Federal procurement data system.

(2)

Plan requirements

The plan shall—

(A)

describe the roles and responsibilities of the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Directors of the Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, the Small Business Procurement Advisory Council, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, the senior procurement executives, and Chief Acquisition Officers in implementing the plan described in paragraph (1) and contributing to the annual report required by subsection (p)(4);

(B)

make necessary changes to policies and procedures on proper identification and mitigation of contract bundling and consolidation, and to training procedures of relevant personnel on proper identification and mitigation of contract bundling and consolidation;

(C)

establish consequences for failure to properly identify contracts as bundled or consolidated;

(D)

establish requirements for periodic and statistically valid data verification and validation; and

(E)

assign clear data verification responsibilities.

(3)

Committee briefing

Once finalized and by not later than 90 days prior to implementation, the plan described in this subsection shall be presented to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate.

(4)

Implementation

Not later than the first day of fiscal year 2017, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall implement the plan described in this subsection.

(5)

Certification

The Administrator shall annually provide to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate certification of the accuracy and completeness of data reported on bundled and consolidated contracts.

(6)

GAO study and report

(A)

Study

Not later than the first day of fiscal year 2018, the Comptroller General of the United States shall initiate a study on the effectiveness of the plan described in this subsection that shall assess whether contracts were accurately labeled as bundled or consolidated.

(B)

Contracts evaluated

For the purposes of conducting the study described in subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General of the United States—

(i)

shall evaluate, for work in each of sectors 23, 33, 54, and 56 (as defined by the North American Industry Classification System), not fewer than 100 contracts in each sector;

(ii)

shall evaluate only those contracts—

(I)

awarded by an agency listed in section 901(b) of title 31, United States Code; and

(II)

that have a Base and Exercised Options Value, an Action Obligation, or a Base and All Options Value; and

(iii)

shall not evaluate contracts that have used any set aside authority.

(C)

Report

Not later than 12 months after initiating the study required by subparagraph (A), the Comptroller General of the United States shall report to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate on the results from such study and, if warranted, any recommendations on how to improve the quality of data reported on bundled and consolidated contracts.

(7)

Definitions

In this subsection the following definitions shall apply:

(A)

Chief Acquisition Officer; senior procurement executive

The terms Chief Acquisition Officer and senior procurement executive have the meanings given such terms in section 44 of this Act.

(B)

Federal procurement data system definitions

The terms Base and Exercised Options Value, Action Obligation, Base and All Options Value, and set aside authority have the meanings given such terms by the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy in the Federal procurement data system on October 1, 2013, or subsequent equivalent terms.

April 9, 2014

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Contracting Data and Bundling Accountability Act of 2014

Legislative Activity

Bill Text