S. 979 

One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty 

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. 

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 ‘‘Federal Advance Contracts 

Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘FACE Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds that— 

(1) the Post-Katrina Emergency Management and Reform 

Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–925; 120 Stat. 1394) required 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish 

advance contracts, which are established prior to disasters and 

are typically needed to quickly provide life-sustaining goods 

and services in the immediate aftermath of a disaster; 

(2) the catastrophic hurricanes and wildfires in the United 

States in 2017 highlighted the importance of these advance 

contracts in disaster response; 

(3) in a report issued by the Government Accountability 

Office entitled ‘‘2017 Disaster Contracting: Action Needed to 

Better Ensure More Effective Use and Management of Advance 

Contracts’’, the Government Accountability Office identified a 

number of challenges with advance contracts and recommended 

actions to improve management by the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency of these contracts for future disasters; 

and 

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

Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791) should be amended to incorporate the recommendations made by the report described in 

paragraph (3) to ensure more effective use and management 

of advance contracts. 

SEC. 3. FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY ADVANCE CONTRACTS. 

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

Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 791) is amended by 

adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(e) UPDATED REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall submit 

to the appropriate committees of Congress an updated report that 

contains— 
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‘‘(1) the information required in the initial report under 

subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1); and 

‘‘(2) an updated strategy described in subsection (a)(1)(C) 

that clearly defines— 

‘‘(A) the objectives of advance contracts; 

‘‘(B) how advance contracts contribute to disaster 

response operations of the Agency; 

‘‘(C) how to maximize the award of advance contracts 

to small business concerns, as defined in section 3 of the 

Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and 

‘‘(D) whether and how advance contracts should be 

prioritized in relation to new post-disaster contract awards. 

‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTRATOR.— 

‘‘(1) HEAD OF CONTRACTING.—The Administrator shall 

ensure that the head of contracting activity of the Agency— 

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

of this subsection, updates the Disaster Contracting Desk 

Guide of the Agency to provide specific guidance— 

‘‘(i) on whether and under what circumstances contracting officers should consider using existing advance 

contracts entered into in accordance with this section 

prior to making new post-disaster contract awards, 

and include this guidance in existing semi-annual 

training given to contracting officers; and 

‘‘(ii) for contracting officers to perform outreach 

to State and local governments on the potential benefits of establishing their own pre-negotiated advance 

contracts; 

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

requirements in effect to ensure that the files relating 

to advance contracts entered into in accordance with this 

section are complete and up to date, whether the files 

will be transferred into the Electronic Contract Filing 

System of the Agency or remain in hard copy format; 

‘‘(C) notifies contracting officers of the 3-day time frame 

requirement for entering completed award documentation 

into the contract writing system of the Agency when executing notice to proceed documentation; 

‘‘(D) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

of this subsection, revises the reporting methodology of 

the Agency to ensure that all disaster contracts are 

included in each quarterly report submitted to the appropriate congressional committees under this section on disaster contract actions; 

‘‘(E) identifies a single centralized resource listing 

advance contracts entered into under this section and 

ensures that source is current and up to date and includes 

all available advance contracts; and 

‘‘(F) communicates complete and up-to-date information 

on available advance contracts to State and local governments to inform their advance contracting efforts. 

‘‘(2) MASTER ACQUISITION PLANNING SCHEDULE.—Not later 

than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

the Administrator shall update and implement guidance for 

program office and acquisition personnel of the Agency to— 
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‘‘(A) identify acquisition planning time frames and 

considerations across the entire acquisition planning 

process of the Agency; and 

‘‘(B) clearly communicate the purpose and use of a 

master acquisition planning schedule.’’. 

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

Management Agency shall regularly update the appropriate committees of Congress (as defined in section 602 of the Post-Katrina 

Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 701)) on 

the progress of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 

implementing the recommendations of the Government Accountability Office in the report entitled ‘‘2017 Disaster Contracting: 

Action Needed to Better Ensure More Effective Use and Management of Advance Contracts’’, as required under section 691 of the 

Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 

791), as amended by subsection (a). 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.