[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 979 Referred in House (RFH)]

<DOC>






 116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 979


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 2019

     Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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).

            Passed the Senate November 7, 2019.

            Attest:

                                                JULIE E. ADAMS,

                                                             Secretary.