[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1085 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1085

    To amend title 23, United States Code, relating to design-build 
                              contracting.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 3, 2005

 Mr. Burgess introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 23, United States Code, relating to design-build 
                              contracting.

    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 ``Reforming, Accelerating, and 
Protection Interstate Design Act''.

SEC. 2. DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTING.

    (a) In General.--Section 112(b)(3) of title 23, United States Code, 
is amended to read as follows:
            ``(3) Design-build contracting.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A State transportation 
                department or local transportation agency may use 
                design-build contracts for development of projects 
                under this chapter and may award such contracts using 
                any procurement process permitted by applicable State 
                and local law.
                    ``(B)  limitation on work to be performed under 
                design-build contracts.--Construction of permanent 
                improvements shall not commence under a design-build 
                contract before compliance with section 102 of the 
                National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 
                4332).
                    ``(C) Scope of work.--The scope of the contractor's 
                work under a design-build contract may include 
                assistance in the environmental review process for the 
                project, including preparation of environmental impact 
                assessments and analyses, if such work is performed 
                under the direction of, and subject to oversight by, 
                the State transportation department or local 
                transportation agency and the State transportation 
                department or local transportation agency conducts a 
                review that assesses the objectivity of the 
                environmental assessment, environmental analysis, or 
                environmental impact statement prior to its submission 
                to the Secretary.
                    ``(D) Project approval.--A design-build contract 
                may be awarded under this paragraph prior to compliance 
                with section 102 of the National Environmental Policy 
                Act of 1969 only--
                            ``(i) with the concurrence of the Secretary 
                        in issuance of the procurement documents and 
                        any amendments thereto and in award of the 
                        contract and any amendments thereto; and
                            ``(ii) if project approval will be provided 
                        after compliance with section 102 of the 
                        National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
                    ``(E) Effect of concurrence.--Concurrence by the 
                Secretary under subparagraph (D) shall be considered a 
                preliminary action that does not affect the 
                environment.
                    ``(F) Design-build contract defined.--In this 
                section, the term ``design-build contract'' means an 
                agreement that provides for design and construction of 
                a project by a contractor, regardless of whether the 
                agreement is in the form of a design-build contract, a 
                franchise agreement, or any other form of contract 
                approved by the Secretary.''.
    (b) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations that amend 
the regulations issued under section 1307(c) of the Transportation 
Equity Act for the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 112 note). The amended 
regulations--
            (1) shall allow a State transportation department or local 
        transportation agency to use any procurement process permitted 
        by applicable State and local law in awarding design-build 
        contracts, including allowing unsolicited proposals, negotiated 
        procurements, and multiple requests for final proposals; except 
        that the Secretary may require reasonable justification to be 
        provided for any sole source procurement;
            (2) may include ``best practices'' guidelines;
            (3) shall not preclude State transportation departments and 
        local transportation agencies from allowing proposers to 
        include alternative technical concepts in their ``base'' 
        proposals;
            (4) shall not preclude State transportation departments and 
        local transportation agencies from issuing a request for 
        proposals document, proceeding with award of a design-build 
        contract, or issuing a notice to proceed with preliminary 
        design work under such a contract prior to compliance with 
        section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
        (42 U.S.C. 4332) if the design-build contractor is not 
        authorized to proceed with construction of permanent 
        improvements prior to such compliance; and
            (5) shall provide guidelines regarding procedures to be 
        followed by the State transportation department or local 
        transportation agency in their direction of and oversight over 
        any environmental impact assessments or analyses for the 
        project which are to be prepared by the contractor or its 
        affiliates.
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