[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 168 (Thursday, December 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12553-S12554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. THOMPSON (for himself and Mr. Warner):
  S. 1780. A bill to provide increased flexibility Governmentwide for 
the procurement of property and services to facilitate the defense 
against terrorism, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. THOMPSON. Madam President, I rise today to introduce a bill to 
help Federal agencies fight our Nation's war against terrorism. I am 
introducing this bill at the request of the President and on behalf of 
myself as ranking member of the Governmental Affairs Committee and 
Senator Warner, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.
  For many years, we have accepted that the Federal Government pays a 
premium, both in dollars and time spent, for the goods and services it 
buys solely because of unique requirements it imposes on its 
contractors. While the Federal procurement system has been streamlined 
and simplified over the last several years, much red tape and barriers 
to ``commercial-style'' contracting still exist. This is due in part to 
trying to maintain the proper balance between an efficient procurement 
system and accountability when spending taxpayer dollars.
  In ordinary times and because of recent procurement policy reforms, 
we believe that a Federal agency can buy most anything it needs quickly 
and efficiently under current law if it has good management practices 
in place and smart, well-trained contracting officers. However, these 
are not ordinary times. Further, we know that the Federal Government is 
not well-managed and our acquisition workforce is rapidly dwindling. 
With that said, it is our responsibility to ensure that Federal 
agencies with a role in homeland security can purchase, quickly and 
efficiently, the most high-tech and sophisticated products and services 
to support antiterrorism efforts and to defend against biological, 
chemical, nuclear, radiological or technological attacks.
  The bill which we are introducing builds on emergency contracting 
authority already in place for the Department of Defense and other 
agencies and goes further by providing additional contracting 
flexibilities. Today, national security and homeland security have the 
same kinds of requirements, detection, tracking, preparedness, 
prevention, response and recovery. By providing additional procurement 
flexibilities, the agencies involved in homeland security will be able 
to apply more easily many new and proven defense-related technologies.
  For example, current law gives agencies the ability to use 
streamlined, simplified contracting procedures for contracts under 
$200,000 which are made and performed outside the United States in 
support of a contingency operation or a humanitarian or peacekeeping 
operation. This bill would raise that threshold to $500,000 for any, 
outside or within the United States, contract awarded for products or 
services in support of a contingency operation or a humanitarian or 
peacekeeping operation.
  Current law also provides simplified contracting procedures for the 
purchase of commercial items, goods and services produced for the 
commercial marketplace and not encumbered by government specifications 
or requirements. The bill would allow goods and services purchased to 
help agencies fight against terrorism or biological, chemical, nuclear, 
radiological or technological attacks to be treated as if they were 
purchases for commercial items, in other words, agencies needing these 
goods and services could use the simpler, expedited procedures. This 
would allow agencies to quickly buy technologies or products which are 
cutting-edge, but which may not have made it to the commercial 
marketplace yet.
  This legislation also encourages the use of current procurement 
flexibilities which are authorized in existing statutes. An agency can 
use these existing provisions where it is appropriate to provide quick 
and responsive solutions to its emergency contracting requirements. 
Further, the bill includes language which will allow agencies to use 
approaches other than contracts to buy research and development for new 
technologies to fight against terrorism. The Department of Defense 
currently has this authority and the bill would extend that authority 
to the rest of the Federal agencies.
  And finally, this bill would encourage more competition in the 
Federal marketplace by requiring agencies to do ongoing market research 
to identify new companies with new capabilities to help agencies in the 
fight against terrorism.
  We must ensure that Federal agencies which are preparing to fight 
terrorism have access to a wide variety of traditional and innovative 
solutions in a timely fashion. The bill we are introducing today will 
go a long way toward that goal.
  Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I join Senator Thompson in introducing 
the Federal Emergency Procurement Flexibility Act. This bill will 
provide emergency contracting relief to Federal agencies in support of 
our Nation's fight against terrorism by allowing agencies to 
effectively buy what is needed to address the threats to our Nation.
  While the Federal procurement system has improved in the last decade, 
there are still many areas where changes should be made to support the 
current emergency. This bill provides for streamlining the contracting 
process to access new technology, provides for emergency authorities 
for small purchases, and maximizes the use of existing streamlined 
procurement authorities.
  The United States has some of the best ideas and technology in the 
world. To win the war on terrorism, the government needs to do all it 
can to gain access to this technology, much of which is located in the 
private sector. However, many firms, particularly in the biotechnology 
and information technology sectors, have been deterred from bidding on 
government contracts by the perception that government contracting is 
burdened with red tape and requirements.
  In this time of crisis, we can not afford to keep these businesses on 
the sidelines. To promote the participation of these firms in solving 
our homeland defense problems, this bill would authorize the use by 
federal agencies of ``other transactions'' authority for research and 
development and prototype projects. ``Other transactions'' authority is 
a streamlined acquisition approach currently available only to the 
Department of Defense. This authority has been enormously helpful in 
allowing the Department of Defense to gain access to the research and 
expertise of non-traditional defense contractors. I anticipate that the 
Department of Health and Human Services or the Environmental Protection 
Agency, for example, would be able to effectively use ``other 
transactions'' authority to research and prototype new vaccines, 
detection systems, and remediation technology to meet the bioterrorist 
threat.
  For production, service or research needs where ``other 
transactions'' authority is not appropriate, this bill authorizes 
``commercial like'' contracting procedures for those contracts that 
facilitate the defense against terrorism or nuclear, chemical, 
biological or information attack on the United

[[Page S12554]]

States. These commercial contracting procedures are exempted from many 
government unique requirements and allow for the use of a more 
streamlined acquisition approach.
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