[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 979 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.979
One Hundred Sixteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty
An Act
To amend the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 to
incorporate the recommendations made by the Government Accountability
Office relating to advance contracts, and for other purposes.
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 ``Federal Advance Contracts
Enhancement Act'' or the ``FACE Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Post-Katrina Emergency Management and Reform Act of
2006 (Public Law 109-925; 120 Stat. 1394) required the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to establish advance contracts, which
are established prior to disasters and are typically needed to
quickly provide life-sustaining goods and services in the immediate
aftermath of a disaster;
(2) the catastrophic hurricanes and wildfires in the United
States in 2017 highlighted the importance of these advance
contracts in disaster response;
(3) in a report issued by the Government Accountability Office
entitled ``2017 Disaster Contracting: Action Needed to Better
Ensure More Effective Use and Management of Advance Contracts'',
the Government Accountability Office identified a number of
challenges with advance contracts and recommended actions to
improve management by the Federal Emergency Management Agency of
these contracts for future disasters; and
(4) section 691 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform
Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791) should be amended to incorporate the
recommendations made by the report described in paragraph (3) to
ensure more effective use and management of advance contracts.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY ADVANCE CONTRACTS.
(a) In General.--Section 691 of the Post-Katrina Emergency
Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(e) Updated Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress an updated report that contains--
``(1) the information required in the initial report under
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1); and
``(2) an updated strategy described in subsection (a)(1)(C)
that clearly defines--
``(A) the objectives of advance contracts;
``(B) how advance contracts contribute to disaster response
operations of the Agency;
``(C) how to maximize the award of advance contracts to
small business concerns, as defined in section 3 of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and
``(D) whether and how advance contracts should be
prioritized in relation to new post-disaster contract awards.
``(f) Additional Duties of the Administrator.--
``(1) Head of contracting.--The Administrator shall ensure that
the head of contracting activity of the Agency--
``(A) not later than 270 days after the date of enactment
of this subsection, updates the Disaster Contracting Desk Guide
of the Agency to provide specific guidance--
``(i) on whether and under what circumstances
contracting officers should consider using existing advance
contracts entered into in accordance with this section
prior to making new post-disaster contract awards, and
include this guidance in existing semi-annual training
given to contracting officers; and
``(ii) for contracting officers to perform outreach to
State and local governments on the potential benefits of
establishing their own pre-negotiated advance contracts;
``(B) adheres to hard copy contract file management
requirements in effect to ensure that the files relating to
advance contracts entered into in accordance with this section
are complete and up to date, whether the files will be
transferred into the Electronic Contract Filing System of the
Agency or remain in hard copy format;
``(C) notifies contracting officers of the 3-day time frame
requirement for entering completed award documentation into the
contract writing system of the Agency when executing notice to
proceed documentation;
``(D) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
of this subsection, revises the reporting methodology of the
Agency to ensure that all disaster contracts are included in
each quarterly report submitted to the appropriate
congressional committees under this section on disaster
contract actions;
``(E) identifies a single centralized resource listing
advance contracts entered into under this section and ensures
that source is current and up to date and includes all
available advance contracts; and
``(F) communicates complete and up-to-date information on
available advance contracts to State and local governments to
inform their advance contracting efforts.
``(2) Master acquisition planning schedule.--Not later than 180
days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the
Administrator shall update and implement guidance for program
office and acquisition personnel of the Agency to--
``(A) identify acquisition planning time frames and
considerations across the entire acquisition planning process
of the Agency; and
``(B) clearly communicate the purpose and use of a master
acquisition planning schedule.''.
(b) Report.--The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency shall regularly update the appropriate committees of Congress
(as defined in section 602 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management
Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 701)) on the progress of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency in implementing the recommendations of the
Government Accountability Office in the report entitled ``2017 Disaster
Contracting: Action Needed to Better Ensure More Effective Use and
Management of Advance Contracts'', as required under section 691 of the
Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791), as
amended by subsection (a).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.