[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019

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                               speech of

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 22, 2018

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5515) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense and for military 
     construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for 
     such fiscal year, and for other purposes:

  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment to 
the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2019, which would require 
the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy to define and track 
Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT).
  PALT is the amount of time between when a solicitation or task order 
is issued and when a contract or task order is awarded.
  A similar requirement for the Department of Defense was enacted as 
part of the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
  I commend the Department for acting quickly to establish a definition 
of PALT and a way to track it in the Federal Procurement Data System 
with minimal additional effort from contract officers.
  This requirement should be expanded government-wide with relative 
ease.
  Such tracking will help federal agencies ensure they are soliciting 
and acquiring goods and services in an efficient manner and help 
Congressional overseers identify agencies that are underperforming in 
this area.
  I thank Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith for working with 
me on this amendment.

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