IC 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Advance Con3 tracts Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘FACE Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the Post-Katrina Emergency Management 

7 and Reform Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–925; 120 

8 Stat. 1394) required the Federal Emergency Man9 agement Agency to establish advance contracts, 

10 which are established prior to disasters and are typi11 cally needed to quickly provide life-sustaining goods 

12 and services in the immediate aftermath of a dis13 aster; 

14 (2) the catastrophic hurricanes and wildfires in 

15 the United States in 2017 highlighted the impor16 tance of these advance contracts in disaster re17 sponse; 

18 (3) in a report issued by the Government Ac19 countability Office entitled ‘‘2017 Disaster Con20 tracting: Action Needed to Better Ensure More Ef21 fective Use and Management of Advance Contracts’’, 

22 the Government Accountability Office identified a 

23 number of challenges with advance contracts and 

24 recommended actions to improve management by the 

25 Federal Emergency Management Agency of these 

26 contracts for future disasters; and 


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1 (4) section 691 of the Post-Katrina Emergency 

2 Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791) 

3 should be amended to incorporate the recommenda4 tions made by the report described in paragraph (3) 

5 to ensure more effective use and management of ad6 vance contracts. 

7 SEC. 3. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY AD8 VANCE CONTRACTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 691 of the Post-Katrina 

10 Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 

11 791) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(e) UPDATED REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

13 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Admin14 istrator shall submit to the appropriate committees of 

15 Congress an updated report that contains— 

16 ‘‘(1) the information required in the initial re17 port under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 

18 (a)(1); and 

19 ‘‘(2) an updated strategy described in sub20 section (a)(1)(C) that clearly defines— 

21 ‘‘(A) the objectives of advance contracts; 

22 ‘‘(B) how advance contracts contribute to 

23 disaster response operations of the Agency; 

24 ‘‘(C) how to maximize the award of ad25 vance contracts to small business concerns, as 


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1 defined in section 3 of the Small Business Act 

2 (15 U.S.C. 632); and 

3 ‘‘(D) whether and how advance contracts 

4 should be prioritized in relation to new post-dis5 aster contract awards. 

6 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE ADMINIS7 TRATOR.— 

8 ‘‘(1) HEAD OF CONTRACTING.—The Adminis9 trator shall ensure that the head of contracting ac10 tivity of the Agency— 

11 ‘‘(A) not later than 270 days after the date 

12 of enactment of this subsection, updates the 

13 Disaster Contracting Desk Guide of the Agency 

14 to provide specific guidance— 

15 ‘‘(i) on whether and under what cir16 cumstances contracting officers should con17 sider using existing advance contracts en18 tered into in accordance with this section 

19 prior to making new post-disaster contract 

20 awards, and include this guidance in exist21 ing semi-annual training given to con22 tracting officers; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) for contracting officers to per24 form outreach to State and local govern25 ments on the potential benefits of estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Nov 08, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S979.RFH S979

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1 lishing their own pre-negotiated advance 

2 contracts; 

3 ‘‘(B) adheres to hard copy contract file 

4 management requirements in effect to ensure 

5 that the files relating to advance contracts en6 tered into in accordance with this section are 

7 complete and up to date, whether the files will 

8 be transferred into the Electronic Contract Fil9 ing System of the Agency or remain in hard 

10 copy format; 

11 ‘‘(C) notifies contracting officers of the 3- 

12 day time frame requirement for entering com13 pleted award documentation into the contract 

14 writing system of the Agency when executing 

15 notice to proceed documentation; 

16 ‘‘(D) not later than 180 days after the 

17 date of enactment of this subsection, revises the 

18 reporting methodology of the Agency to ensure 

19 that all disaster contracts are included in each 

20 quarterly report submitted to the appropriate 

21 congressional committees under this section on 

22 disaster contract actions; 

23 ‘‘(E) identifies a single centralized resource 

24 listing advance contracts entered into under 

25 this section and ensures that source is current 


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1 and up to date and includes all available ad2 vance contracts; and 

3 ‘‘(F) communicates complete and up-to4 date information on available advance contracts 

5 to State and local governments to inform their 

6 advance contracting efforts. 

7 ‘‘(2) MASTER ACQUISITION PLANNING SCHED8 ULE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of en9 actment of this subsection, the Administrator shall 

10 update and implement guidance for program office 

11 and acquisition personnel of the Agency to— 

12 ‘‘(A) identify acquisition planning time 

13 frames and considerations across the entire ac14 quisition planning process of the Agency; and 

15 ‘‘(B) clearly communicate the purpose and 

16 use of a master acquisition planning schedule.’’. 

17 (b) REPORT.—The Administrator of the Federal 

18 Emergency Management Agency shall regularly update 

19 the appropriate committees of Congress (as defined in sec20 tion 602 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Re21 form Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 701)) on the progress of the 

22 Federal Emergency Management Agency in implementing 

23 the recommendations of the Government Accountability 

24 Office in the report entitled ‘‘2017 Disaster Contracting: 

25 Action Needed to Better Ensure More Effective Use and 


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1 Management of Advance Contracts’’, as required under 

2 section 691 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management 

3 Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791), as amended by sub4 section (a). 

Passed the Senate November 7, 2019. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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