[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8007 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8007
To prevent price gouging at the Department of Defense.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 9, 2022
Mr. Garamendi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on
Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent price gouging at the Department of Defense.
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 ``Stop Price Gouging the Military
Act''.
SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING TRUTH IN NEGOTIATIONS ACT PROVISIONS.
(a) Required Cost or Pricing Data and Certification.--Section
3702(a)(1) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking
``only expected to receive one bid shall be required'' and replacing
with ``only expected to have one offeror, or for which award of a cost-
reimbursement contract is contemplated regardless of the number of
offers received, shall be required''.
(b) Exceptions.--Section 3703(a) of title 10, United States Code,
is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``adequate
competition'' and all that follows through ``bids'' and
inserting ``adequate price competition, except for the award of
a cost-reimbursement contract, that results in at least two
responsive and viable competing offerors''; and
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``based on adequate
price competition that results in at least two responsive and
responsible offers'' after ``commercial service''.
(c) Conforming Amendment Related to Civilian Contracts.--Section
3503(a)(2) of title 41, United States Code is by inserting after
``commercial service'' the following: ``based on adequate price
competition that results in at least two responsive and responsible
offers''.
SEC. 3. REVISION OF DEFINITION OF TERM ``COMMERCIAL ITEM'' FOR PURPOSES
OF FEDERAL PROCUREMENT STATUTES PROVIDING PROCEDURES FOR
PROCUREMENT OF COMMERCIAL ITEMS.
(a) Elimination of ``of a Type'' Criterion.--Section 103 of title
41, United States Code, is amended by striking ``of a type'' each place
it appears.
(b) Elimination of Items and Services Merely Offered for Sale,
Lease, or License.--
(1) Items.--Section 103(1)(B) of title 41, United States
Code, is amended by striking ``, or offered for sale, lease, or
license,''.
(2) Services.--Section 103a(2) of title 41, United States
Code, is amended by striking ``offered and''.
SEC. 4. PROGRESS PAYMENT INCENTIVE PILOT.
(a) Pilot Program.--The Secretary of Defense, acting through the
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, shall
establish and implement a pilot program, to be known as the ``Progress
Payment Incentive Pilot Program'', to make accelerated progress
payments contingent upon responsiveness to Department of Defense goals
for effectiveness, efficiency, and increasing small business contract
opportunities.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the pilot program is to reward
Department of Defense contractors who meet contract delivery dates,
respond to Department solicitations for required certified cost or
pricing data, meet small business contracting goals, and provide
subcontracting opportunities for AbilityOne contracts.
(c) Progress Payments.--
(1) Limitations for large contractors.--Except as provided
under paragraph (2), under the pilot program, the Department of
Defense may not award to large business contractors progress
payments in excess of 50 percent.
(2) Exceptions.--The Department of Defense may increase the
rate of progress payments, up to a total of 95 percent, by the
following percentages:
(A) 10 percent if the relevant division of the
contractor met contract delivery dates for contract end
items and contract data requirement lists or
performance milestone schedule, as the case may be, at
least 95 percent of the time during the preceding
Government fiscal year.
(B) 10 percent if the division does not have open
level III or IV corrective action requests.
(C) 7.5 percent if all applicable contractor
business systems are acceptable, without significant
deficiencies.
(D) 10 percent if at least 95 percent of the time
during the preceding Government fiscal year, when
responding to solicitations that required submission of
certified cost or pricing data, the division met the
due date in the request for proposal.
(E) 5 percent if the contractor discloses first
tier subcontractor data, the prime contractor's
beneficial owners, and total compensation for recipient
executives.
(F) 5 percent if the contractor has met its small
business subcontracting goals during the preceding
Government fiscal year.
(G) 3 percent if the contractor has provided
subcontracting opportunities for the blind and severely
disabled.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Beneficial owners.--The term ``beneficial owner'' has
the meaning given the term in section 847 of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-
92; 133 Stat. 1505; 10 U.S.C. 2509 note).
(2) Compensation for recipient executives.--The term
``compensation for recipient executives'' refers to the names
and total compensation of the five most highly compensated
officers of the entity pursuant to section 2(b)(1) of the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006
(Public Law 109-282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note).
(3) First tier subcontractor.--The term ``first tier
subcontractor'' means a subcontractor who has a subcontract
directly with the prime contractor.
(4) Large defense contractor.--The term ``large defense
contractor'' means a contractor (other than an institute of
higher education or a federally funded research and development
center) that received more than $10,000,000 in annual revenue
from the Department of Defense contracts or licenses in any of
the previous three years.
(5) Progress payments.--The term ``progress payments''
means payments provided for under section 3804 of title 10,
United States Code.
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