[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 194 Received in Senate (RDS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. J. RES. 194


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 24 (legislative day, September 20), 1996

                                Received

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
   Granting the consent of Congress to amendments made by Maryland, 
 Virginia, and the District of Columbia to the Washington Metropolitan 
                    Area Transit Regulation Compact.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONSENT OF CONGRESS TO AMENDMENTS TO COMPACT.

    The Congress consents to the amendments of the State of Maryland 
(chapter 252, 1995 Acts of the Maryland General Assembly and chapter 
489, 1996 Laws of Maryland), the amendments of the Commonwealth of 
Virginia (chapter 150, 1995 Acts of Assembly of Virginia), and the 
amendments of the District of Columbia (D.C. Law 11-138) of title III 
of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact. Such 
amendments are substantially as follows:
    (1) Section 3 is amended to read as follows:

              ``Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone

    ``3. There is hereby created the Washington Metropolitan Area 
Transit Zone which shall embrace the District of Columbia, the cities 
of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax and the counties of Arlington, 
Fairfax, and Loudoun and political subdivisions of the Commonwealth of 
Virginia located within those counties, and the counties of Montgomery 
and Prince George's in the State of Maryland and political subdivisions 
of the State of Maryland located in said counties.''.
    (2) Subsection (a) of section 5 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) The Authority shall be governed by a Board of six Directors 
consisting of two Directors for each signatory. For Virginia, the 
Directors shall be appointed by the Northern Virginia Transportation 
Commission; for the District of Columbia, by the Council of the 
District of Columbia; and for Maryland, by the Washington Suburban 
Transit Commission. For Virginia and Maryland, the Directors shall be 
appointed from among the members of the appointing body, except as 
otherwise provided herein, and shall serve for a term coincident with 
their term on the appointing body. A Director may be removed or 
suspended from office only as provided by the law of the signatory from 
which he was appointed. The appointing authorities shall also appoint 
an alternate for each Director, who may act only in the absence of the 
Director for whom he has been appointed an alternate, except that, in 
the case of the District of Columbia where only one Director and his 
alternate are present, such alternate may act on behalf of the absent 
Director. Each alternate shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing 
authority. In the event of a vacancy in the Office of Director or 
alternate, it shall be filled in the same manner as an original 
appointment.''.
    (3) Subsection (a) of section 8 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Four Directors or alternates consisting of at least one 
Director or alternate appointed from each Signatory, shall constitute a 
quorum and no action by the Board shall be effective unless a majority 
of the Board present and voting, which majority shall include at least 
one Director or alternate from each Signatory, concur therein; 
provided, however, that a plan of financing may be adopted or a mass 
transit plan adopted, altered, revised or amended by the unanimous vote 
of the Directors representing any two Signatories.''.
    (4) Subsection (b) of section 14 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) It shall be the duty and responsibility of each member of the 
Board to serve as liaison between the Board and the body which 
appointed him to the Board. To provide a framework for regional 
participation in the planning process, the Board shall create technical 
committees concerned with planning and collection and analyses of data 
relative to decision-making in the transportation planning process and 
the Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia, the component 
governments of the Northern Virginia Transportation District and the 
Washington Suburban Transit District shall appoint representatives to 
such technical committees and otherwise cooperate with the Board in the 
formulation of a mass transit plan, or in revisions, alterations or 
amendments thereof.''.
    (5)(A) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended to 
read as follows:
            ``(1) The Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia, 
        the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the 
        Washington Suburban Transit Commission;''.
    (B) Paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended to 
read as follows:
            ``(3) the transportation agencies of the signatories;''.
    (C) The last paragraph of section 15 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) A copy of the proposed mass transit plan, amendment or 
revision, shall be kept at the office of the Board and shall be 
available for public inspection. Information with respect thereto shall 
be released to the public. After thirty days' notice published once a 
week for two successive weeks in one or more newspapers of general 
circulation within the zone, a public hearing shall be held with 
respect to the proposed plan, alteration, revision or amendment. The 
thirty days' notice shall begin to run on the first day the notice 
appears in any such newspaper. The Board shall consider the evidence 
submitted and statements and comments made at such meeting and may make 
any changes in the proposed plan, amendment or revision which it deems 
appropriate and such changes may be made without further hearing.''.
    (6) Subsection (a) of section 70 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) As soon as practical after the closing of the fiscal year, an 
audit shall be made of the financial accounts of the Authority. The 
audit shall be made by qualified certified public accountants selected 
by the Board, who shall have no personal interest direct or indirect in 
the financial affairs of the Authority or any of its officers or 
employees. The report of audit shall be prepared in accordance with 
generally accepted auditing principles and shall be filed with the 
Chairman and other officers as the Board shall direct. Copies of the 
report shall be distributed to each Director, to the Congress, to the 
Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia, to the Governors of 
Virginia and Maryland, to the Washington Suburban Transit Commission, 
to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and to the governing 
bodies of the political subdivisions located within the Zone which are 
parties to commitments for participation in the financing of the 
Authority and shall be made available for public distribution.''.
    (7) Section 73 is amended to read as follows:

                      ``Contracting and Purchasing

    ``73. (a)(1) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (f) of 
this section, and except in the case of procurement procedures 
otherwise expressly authorized by statute, the Authority in conducting 
a procurement of property, services, or construction shall:
            ``(A) obtain full and open competition through the use of 
        competitive procedures in accordance with the requirements of 
        this Section; and
            ``(B) use the competitive procedure or combination of 
        competitive procedures that is best suited under the 
        circumstances of the procurement.
    ``(2) In determining the competitive procedure appropriate under 
the circumstances, the Authority shall:
            ``(A) solicit sealed bids if:
                    ``(i) time permits the solicitation, submission, 
                and evaluation of sealed bids;
                    ``(ii) the award will be made on the basis of price 
                and other price-related factors;
                    ``(iii) it is not necessary to conduct discussions 
                with the responding sources about their bids; and
                    ``(iv) there is a reasonable expectation of 
                receiving more than one sealed bid; or
            ``(B) request competitive proposals if sealed bids are not 
        appropriate under clause (A) of this paragraph.
    ``(b) The Authority may provide for the procurement of property, 
services, or construction covered by this Section using competitive 
procedures but excluding a particular source in order to establish or 
maintain an alternative source or sources of supply for that property, 
service, or construction if the Authority determines that excluding the 
source would increase or maintain competition and would likely result 
in reduced overall costs for procurement of property, services, or 
construction.
    ``(c) The Authority may use procedures other than competitive 
procedures if:
            ``(1) the property, services, or construction needed by the 
        Authority is available from only one responsible source and no 
        other type of property, services, or construction will satisfy 
        the needs of the Authority; or
            ``(2) the Authority's need for the property, services, or 
        construction is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that 
        the Authority would be seriously injured unless the Authority 
        limits the number of sources from which it solicits bids or 
        proposals; or
            ``(3) the Authority determines that it is necessary in the 
        public interest to use procedures other than competitive 
        procedures in the particular procurement; or
            ``(4) the property or services can be obtained through 
        federal or other governmental sources at reasonable prices.
    ``(d) For the purpose of applying subsection (c)(1) of this 
section:
            ``(1) in the case of a contract for property, services, or 
        construction to be awarded on the basis of acceptance of an 
        unsolicited proposal, the property, services, or construction 
        shall be deemed to be available from only one responsible 
        source if the source has submitted an unsolicited proposal that 
        demonstrates a concept:
                    ``(A) that is unique and innovative or, in the case 
                of a service, for which the source demonstrates a 
                unique capability to provide the service; and
                    ``(B) the substance of which is not otherwise 
                available to the Authority and does not resemble the 
                substance of a pending competitive procurement.
            ``(2) in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued 
        development or production of a major system or highly 
        specialized equipment or the continued provision of highly 
        specialized services, the property, services, or construction 
        may be deemed to be available from only the original source and 
        may be procured through procedures other than competitive 
        procedures if it is likely that award to a source other than 
        the original source would result in:
                    ``(A) substantial duplication of cost to the 
                Authority that is not expected to be recovered through 
                competition; or
                    ``(B) unacceptable delays in fulfilling the 
                Authority's needs.
    ``(e) If the Authority uses procedures other than competitive 
procedures to procure property, services, or construction under 
subsection (c)(2) of this section, the Authority shall request offers 
from as many potential sources as is practicable under the 
circumstances.
    ``(f)(1) To promote efficiency and economy in contracting, the 
Authority may use simplified acquisition procedures for purchases of 
property, services and construction.
    ``(2) For the purposes of this subsection, simplified acquisition 
procedures may be used for purchases for an amount that does not exceed 
the simplified acquisition threshold adopted by the Federal Government.
    ``(3) A proposed purchase or contract for an amount above the 
simplified acquisition threshold may not be divided into several 
purchases or contracts for lesser amounts in order to use the 
procedures under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
    ``(4) In using simplified acquisition procedures, the Authority 
shall promote competition to the maximum extent practicable.
    ``(g) The Board shall adopt policies and procedures to implement 
this Section. The policies and procedures shall provide for publication 
of notice of procurements and other actions designed to secure 
competition where competitive procedures are used.
    ``(h) The Authority in its discretion may reject any and all bids 
or proposals received in response to a solicitation.''.
    (8) Section 81 is amended to read as follows:

                        ``Jurisdiction of Courts

    ``81. The United States District Courts shall have original 
jurisdiction, concurrent with the Courts of Maryland, Virginia and the 
District of Columbia, of all actions brought by or against the 
Authority and to enforce subpoenas issued under this Title. Any such 
action initiated in a State or District of Columbia Court shall be 
removable to the appropriate United States District Court in the manner 
provided by Act of June 25, 1948, as amended (28 U.S.C. 1446).''.
    (9) Section 84 is amended to read as follows:

                      ``Amendments and Supplements

    ``84. Amendments and supplements to this Title to implement the 
purposes thereof may be adopted by legislative action of any of the 
signatory parties concurred in by all of the others. When one signatory 
adopts an amendment or supplement to an existing section of the 
Compact. that amendment shall not be immediately effective, and the 
previously enacted provision(s) shall remain in effect in each 
jurisdiction until the amendment or supplement is approved by the other 
signatories and is consented to by Congress.''.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 24, 1996.

            Attest:

                                                ROBIN H. CARLE,

                                                                 Clerk.