[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4623 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4623

   To advance Government innovation through leading-edge procurement 
                  capability, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 2022

 Mr. Peters (for himself and Ms. Ernst) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To advance Government innovation through leading-edge procurement 
                  capability, 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 ``Advancing Government Innovation with 
Leading-Edge Procurement Act of 2022'' or the ``AGILE Procurement Act 
of 2022''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has 
        conducted a trend analysis of governmentwide contracting for 
        each of the last several fiscal years. These analyses show that 
        the Federal dollars obligated through contracts has been 
        steadily increasing.
            (2) Contract spending accounts for more than 80 percent of 
        the Federal information technology budget.
            (3) Spending on cybersecurity, software, cloud computing, 
        and artificial intelligence technologies is projected to grow 
        significantly.
            (4) Rapid technological developments and increased 
        Government demand create a need for a Federal acquisition 
        workforce with an understanding of technology and related 
        procurement considerations.
            (5) Recruitment and retention of procurement staff are 
        chief concerns for Federal agencies, which are facing a 
        shortage of procurement professionals despite growing contract 
        spending and the need for a faster procurement process to keep 
        pace with technological advancements.
            (6) Federal agencies are challenged to shorten the 
        procurement cycle to timely meet agency technology 
        requirements. Unlike in the past, procurements that take years 
        from requirements development to implementation may be obsolete 
        by the time they are fielded.
            (7) While Federal contracting dollars are increasing year 
        over year, the number of Federal contractors receiving contract 
        awards is shrinking, particularly with regard to new and small 
        companies. This trend could impair the Federal Government's 
        access to innovative commercial technologies.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Acquisition workforce.--The term ``acquisition 
        workforce'' means employees of an executive agency who are 
        responsible for procurement, contracting, program or project 
        management, or others as designated by the Chief Acquisition 
        Officer, Senior Procurement Executive, or Head of the 
        Contracting Activity.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.
            (3) Cross-functional.--The term ``cross-functional'' means 
        a structure in which individuals with different functional 
        expertise or from different areas of an organization work 
        together as a team.
            (4) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United 
        States Code.
            (5) Experiential learning.--The term ``experiential 
        learning'' means on-the-job experiences or simulations that 
        serve to enhance workforce professional skills.
            (6) Information and communications technology.--The term 
        ``information and communications technology'' has the meaning 
        given the term in subpart 2.101 of the Federal Acquisition 
        Regulation and includes associated services.
            (7) Qualified business wholly-owned through an employee 
        stock ownership plan.--The term ``qualified businesses wholly-
        owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan'' means an S 
        corporation (as defined in section 1361(a)(1) of the Internal 
        Revenue Code of 1986) for which 100 percent of the outstanding 
        stock is held through an employee stock ownership plan (as 
        defined in section 4975(e)(7) of such Code).
            (8) Relevant committees of congress.--The term ``relevant 
        committees of Congress'' means the Committee on Homeland 
        Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
        Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of 
        Representatives.
            (9) Small business.--The term ``small business'' has the 
        meaning given the term ``small business concern'' in section 3 
        of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

SEC. 4. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.

    (a) Pathways to Procurement Pilot Program.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in coordination 
        with the Federal Acquisition Institute and the Office of 
        Personnel Management, as necessary, shall pilot a program for 
        entry of junior and mid-career professionals to the General 
        Schedule Contracting series (GS-1102) workforce, by--
                    (A) considering the inclusion of program 
                participants from other job series and fields, 
                including veterans, military spouses, and private 
                sector procurement professionals;
                    (B) providing alternatives to education and 
                training requirements for entry into the General 
                Schedule Contracting series (GS-1102) workforce, such 
                as allowing for use of educational credits in a 
                technical discipline relevant to agency procurement, 
                such as information and communications technology and 
                scientific and engineering disciplines;
                    (C) providing pathways to reciprocity or 
                fulfillment of certification requirements for 
                Department of Defense professional contracting 
                certification holders and commercial sector acquisition 
                certification holders, such as certified professional 
                contract managers and certified Federal contract 
                managers; and
                    (D) providing a capstone class or experience and 
                relevant mentorship opportunities.
            (2) Briefing.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall provide to the 
        relevant committees of Congress a briefing on implementation of 
        the pilot program and any recommendations related to expansion 
        or extension.
            (3) Duration.--The duration of the pilot program under this 
        subsection shall be not less than 5 years after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
    (b) Experiential Learning.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Institute shall 
incorporate experiential learning into the training framework for the 
General Schedule Contracting series (GS-1102).
    (c) Training on Information and Communications Technology 
Acquisition.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Institute, 
        in coordination with the Administrator, the Administrator of 
        General Services, the Chief Information Officers Council, and 
        the United States Digital Service shall develop and implement 
        or otherwise provide a cross-functional information and 
        communications technology acquisition training program to 
        acquisition workforce members involved in acquiring information 
        and communications technology. The training shall--
                    (A) include learning objectives related to market 
                research and communicating with industry, developing 
                requirements, acquisition planning, and awarding and 
                administering contracts for information and 
                communications technology;
                    (B) include learning objectives encouraging use of 
                small business programs to acquire information and 
                communications technology;
                    (C) include learning objectives encouraging the use 
                of commercial or commercially available off-the-shelf 
                (COTS) technologies to the greatest extent practicable;
                    (D) include case studies of lessons learned from 
                Federal information and communications technology 
                procurements and contracts;
                    (E) include experiential learning opportunities;
                    (F) include continuous learning recommendations and 
                resources to keep the skills of acquisition workforce 
                members current; and
                    (G) be made available to acquisition workforce 
                members designated by a Chief Acquisition Officer, 
                Senior Procurement Executive, or Head of the 
                Contracting Activity to participate in the training 
                program.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Director of the Federal Acquisition 
        Institute shall provide to the relevant committees of Congress, 
        the Chief Acquisition Officers Council and the Chief 
        Information Officers Council--
                    (A) a briefing outlining the Director's progress in 
                developing and implementing or otherwise providing the 
                information and communications technology acquisition 
                training described in paragraph (1); and
                    (B) a list of any congressionally mandated 
                acquisition training that the Director determines to be 
                outdated or no longer necessary for other reasons.
            (3) Duration.--The training program shall be offered for a 
        minimum of 5 years following the date of implementation of the 
        training program.

SEC. 5. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS.

    (a) Guidance on Innovative Procurement Methods.--Not later than 1 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
shall issue guidance to inform executive agencies on the availability 
of streamlined and alternative procurement methods for procurement of 
information and communications technology, including--
            (1) simplified procedures for certain commercial products 
        and commercial services in accordance with subpart 13.5 of the 
        Federal Acquisition Regulation, prize competitions under the 
        America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-
        358), commercial solutions opening authorities as provided in 
        this section or under separate authority, the Small Business 
        Innovation Research Program, and joint venture partnerships 
        through agreement with National Technical Innovation Service 
        within the Department of Commerce; and
            (2) information on appropriate use, examples and templates, 
        and any other information determined relevant by the 
        Administrator to assist contracting officers and other members 
        of the acquisition workforce in utilizing the procedures 
        described in paragraph (1).
    (b) Expansion of Commercial Solutions Opening Authority.--Section 
880 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 
(Public Law 114-328; 41 U.S.C. 3301 note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) The head of an executive agency approved for 
                the program, on a pilot or permanent basis, by the 
                Director of the Office of Management and Budget.''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) An executive agency approved for the program 
                by the Director of the Office of Management and 
                Budget.'';
            (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``$10,000,000'' and 
        inserting ``$25,000,000'';
            (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
    ``(e) Reporting and Data Collection.--The head of an agency shall 
report information on contracts made using procedures under this 
section to the Office of Management and Budget as determined by the 
Office of Management and Budget. The Administrator shall collect and 
analyze data on the use of the authority under this section for the 
purposes of--
            ``(1) developing and sharing best practices;
            ``(2) gathering information on the implementation of the 
        authority and related policy issues; and
            ``(3) informing the Committee on Homeland Security and 
        Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
        Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives on the use 
        of the authority.'';
            (4) by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `commercial product' includes a commercial 
        product or a commercial service, as those terms are defined in 
        sections 103 and 103a, respectively, of title 41, United States 
        Code; and
            ``(2) the term `innovative' means--
                    ``(A) any new technology, process, or method, 
                including research and development; or
                    ``(B) any new application of an existing 
                technology, process, or method.'';
            (5) by striking subsection (g);
            (6) in the section heading, by striking ``Pilot programs'' 
        and inserting ``Programs''; and
            (7) by striking ``pilot'' each place it appears.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 2(b) of 
such Act is amended by striking the item relating to section 880 and 
inserting the following new item:

``Sec. 880. Programs for authority to acquire innovative commercial 
                            items using general solicitation 
                            competitive procedures.''.

SEC. 6. ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO ENTRY IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING.

    (a) Use of Past Performance.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue guidance, 
including examples and templates where appropriate, on--
            (1) when a wider range of projects, such as commercial or 
        non-government, as well as Government projects, should be 
        accepted as relevant past performance, in order to have access 
        to a wider pool of eligible firms with capability to perform a 
        requirement, such as a requirement without much precedent; and
            (2) use of alternative evaluation methods that may be 
        appropriate for a requirement without much precedent.
    (b) Addressing Barriers to Entry.--
            (1) Addressing barriers to entry working group.--Not later 
        than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
        Administrator shall convene a working group or an appropriate 
        existing body (in this section referred to as the ``working 
        group''), to make recommendations to reduce barriers to entry 
        for entities seeking to do business with the Federal 
        Government.
            (2) Membership.--The working group convened under paragraph 
        (1) shall be chaired by the Administrator or a designee of the 
        Administrator and include, at a minimum, representatives from:
                    (A) The General Services Administration.
                    (B) The Department of Homeland Security.
                    (C) The Department of Commerce.
                    (D) The Department of Defense.
                    (E) The Department of Health and Human Services.
                    (F) The Small Business Administration.
                    (G) Any other agencies or organizations, including 
                national security agencies, determined appropriate by 
                the Administrator.
            (3) Consultation.--The working group shall obtain input 
        from the public, including from the Procurement Technical 
        Assistance Center (PTAC) network and from other industry 
        representatives, on ways in which Federal procurement policies 
        and regulations are obsolete, overly burdensome or restrictive, 
        and serve to create barriers to participation in Federal 
        contracting or unnecessarily increase bid and proposal costs.
            (4) Examination of actions.--The working group shall 
        consider the input obtained under paragraph (3) and any other 
        information determined to be appropriate by the Administrator 
        to identify legislative, regulatory, and other actions to 
        foster more resilient supply chains, provide access to a wider 
        pool of qualified vendors, and increase opportunities for 
        participation of new, small, and nontraditional businesses in 
        the procurement process, in addition to addressing other 
        barriers.
            (5) Implementation.--Not later than two years after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall, in 
        consultation with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, 
        the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, the working group, and 
        other agencies as appropriate, implement the regulatory and 
        other non-legislative actions identified under paragraph (4) to 
        address barriers to entry for entities seeking to participate 
        in Federal Government procurement.
            (6) Briefing.--Not later than two years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall brief the 
        relevant committees of Congress on the legislative actions 
        identified under paragraph (4), and the actions implemented 
        under paragraph (5).
    (c) Revision to the Mandatory Use of the Cost Accounting 
Standards.--Section 1502(b)(1) of title 41, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``the amount set forth 
        in section 3702(a)(1)(A) of title 10 as the amount is adjusted 
        in accordance with applicable requirements of law'' and 
        inserting ``$15,000,000''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (C)--
                    (A) in clause (ii), by striking the semicolon and 
                inserting ``; or'';
                    (B) in clause (iii), by striking ``; or'' and 
                inserting a period; and
                    (C) by striking clause (iv).

SEC. 7. INCENTIVIZING EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLANS FOR BUSINESS 
              GROWTH.

    (a) Pilot Program To Use Noncompetitive Procedures for Certain 
Follow-On Contracts to Qualified Businesses Wholly-Owned Through an 
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).--
            (1) Establishment.--The Administrator may expand the pilot 
        program authorized by section 874 of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81; 10 
        U.S.C. 3204 note) for governmentwide use, including by 
        coordinating as necessary with the Federal Acquisition 
        Regulatory Council to make related amendments to the Federal 
        Acquisition Regulation.
            (2) Follow-on contracts.--Notwithstanding the requirements 
        of section 3301 of title 41, United States Code, for purposes 
        of carrying out a governmentwide ESOP pilot program established 
        under paragraph (1), the products or services to be procured by 
        an executive agency under a follow-on contract with a qualified 
        business wholly-owned through an ESOP for the continued 
        development, production, or provision of products or services 
        that are the same as or substantially similar to the products 
        or services procured under a prior contract may be procured 
        through procedures other than competitive procedures if the 
        performance of the qualified business on the prior contract was 
        rated as satisfactory (or the equivalent) or better.
            (3) Limitation.--A qualified business wholly-owned through 
        an ESOP may have a single opportunity for award of a sole-
        source follow-on contract under this subsection, unless the 
        senior procurement executive of the executive agency awarding 
        the contract approves a waiver of such limitation.
    (b) Verification and Reporting of Qualified Businesses Wholly-Owned 
Through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.--Under a pilot program 
established under this section, the Administrator shall establish 
procedures--
            (1) for businesses to verify status as a qualified business 
        wholly-owned through an ESOP for the purposes of this section 
        by using existing Federal reporting mechanisms;
            (2) for a qualified businesses wholly-owned through an ESOP 
        to certify that not more than 50 percent of the amount paid 
        under the contract will be expended on subcontracts, including 
        similarly situated ESOPs if determined appropriate by the 
        Administrator, subject to such necessary and reasonable waivers 
        as the implementing guidance or regulations may prescribe; and
            (3) to record and provide to relevant committees of 
        Congress upon request information on each follow-on contract 
        awarded under authority of this subsection, including details 
        relevant to the nature of such contract and the qualified 
        business wholly-owned through an ESOP that received the 
        contract.
    (c) Sunset.--A pilot program established under this section shall 
expire on the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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