[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.