[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1859 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1859

 To assure quality and best value with respect to Federal construction 
      projects by prohibiting the practice known as bid shopping.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 2001

  Mr. Kanjorski (for himself, Mr. Horn, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
   Sanders, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Pallone, and Mr. Andrews) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To assure quality and best value with respect to Federal construction 
      projects by prohibiting the practice known as bid shopping.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Construction Quality Assurance Act 
of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Certain unfair and undesirable practices, known as bid 
        shopping, have arisen between contractors and subcontractors 
        from time to time in construction work for the Federal 
        Government.
            (2) Bid shopping threatens the integrity of the competitive 
        bid system, which well serves the construction industry and the 
        economy.
            (3) Bid shopping deprives taxpayers of the full benefits of 
        fair competition among contractors and subcontractors, and 
        often results in poor quality of material and workmanship to 
        the detriment of the public.
            (4) Because when bid shopping occurs the cost savings 
        gained are not passed on to the Federal Government, while the 
        simultaneous reduction in quality and value are passed on, the 
        procurement practices of the Federal Government should be 
        modified to prohibit bid shopping.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Contract.--The term ``contract'' means any contract 
        with the Federal Government, exceeding $1,000,000 in amount, 
        for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public 
        building or public work of the United States.
            (2) Bid shopping.--The term ``bid shopping'' means the 
        practice of a contractor asking, requiring, or otherwise 
        pressuring a subcontractor to lower bids for subcontracts, or 
        accepting lower bids from subcontractors, after submitting a 
        bid without passing the savings from the lower bids back to the 
        Federal Government.
            (3) Contractor.--The term ``contractor'' means an 
        individual or entity that has been awarded a contract by the 
        Federal Government.
            (4) Subcontractor.--The term ``subcontractor'' means an 
        individual or entity with whom a bidder on a contract proposes 
        to enter into a subcontract for manufacturing, supplying, 
        fabricating, installing, or otherwise performing with respect 
        to the contract, whether the work is to be performed by the 
        subcontractor at the construction site or off the site.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION AGAINST BID SHOPPING.

    (a) In General.--No contractor or subcontractor shall participate 
in the practice of bid shopping with respect to a contract.
    (b) Notice Requirement.--Any invitation to bid or request for 
proposal issued by the Federal Government with respect to a contract 
shall include a clause explicitly prohibiting the practice of bid 
shopping and specifying the penalties for violating the prohibition 
against bid shopping.

SEC. 5. PENALTIES.

    (a) In General.--A contracting officer who becomes aware of a 
violation of the prohibition described in section 4(a) shall exercise 
the option of--
            (1) canceling the contract; or
            (2) imposing liquidated damages, the amount of which shall 
        be 3 times the difference between the subcontractor's final bid 
        before the award of the contract and the ultimate price of the 
        subcontracted work.
    (b) Grounds for Suspension or Debarment.--The imposition of 
liquidated damages on a contractor with respect to 2 contracts within a 
5-year period shall be deemed to be adequate evidence of the commission 
of an offense indicating a lack of business integrity or business 
honesty that seriously and directly affects the present responsibility 
of a Government contractor within the meaning of part 9.4 of the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation (Debarment, Suspension, and Eligibility) 
(49 CFR 9.4).

SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION THROUGH THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.

    The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be modified to provide 
appropriate solicitation provisions, contract clauses, and 
investigatory procedures to implement this Act.

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall apply with respect to contracts awarded on or after 
the date of the beginning of the first fiscal quarter beginning more 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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