II 

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. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing Government 

5 Innovation with Leading-Edge Procurement Act of 2022’’ 

6 or the ‘‘AGILE Procurement Act of 2022’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 

9 (1) The Government Accountability Office 

10 (GAO) has conducted a trend analysis of governVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:27 Jul 29, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4623.IS S4623

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1 mentwide contracting for each of the last several fis2 cal years. These analyses show that the Federal dol3 lars obligated through contracts has been steadily in4 creasing. 

5 (2) Contract spending accounts for more than 

6 80 percent of the Federal information technology 

7 budget. 

8 (3) Spending on cybersecurity, software, cloud 

9 computing, and artificial intelligence technologies is 

10 projected to grow significantly. 

11 (4) Rapid technological developments and in12 creased Government demand create a need for a 

13 Federal acquisition workforce with an understanding 

14 of technology and related procurement consider15 ations. 

16 (5) Recruitment and retention of procurement 

17 staff are chief concerns for Federal agencies, which 

18 are facing a shortage of procurement professionals 

19 despite growing contract spending and the need for 

20 a faster procurement process to keep pace with tech21 nological advancements. 

22 (6) Federal agencies are challenged to shorten 

23 the procurement cycle to timely meet agency tech24 nology requirements. Unlike in the past, procure25 ments that take years from requirements developVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:37 Jul 29, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4623.IS S4623

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1 ment to implementation may be obsolete by the time 

2 they are fielded. 

3 (7) While Federal contracting dollars are in4 creasing year over year, the number of Federal con5 tractors receiving contract awards is shrinking, par6 ticularly with regard to new and small companies. 

7 This trend could impair the Federal Government’s 

8 access to innovative commercial technologies. 

9 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

11 (1) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—The term ‘‘ac12 quisition workforce’’ means employees of an execu13 tive agency who are responsible for procurement, 

14 contracting, program or project management, or oth15 ers as designated by the Chief Acquisition Officer, 

16 Senior Procurement Executive, or Head of the Con17 tracting Activity. 

18 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro20 curement Policy. 

21 (3) CROSS-FUNCTIONAL.—The term ‘‘cross22 functional’’ means a structure in which individuals 

23 with different functional expertise or from different 

24 areas of an organization work together as a team. 


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1 (4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

4 (5) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—The term ‘‘ex5 periential learning’’ means on-the-job experiences or 

6 simulations that serve to enhance workforce profes7 sional skills. 

8 (6) INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

9 TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘information and commu10 nications technology’’ has the meaning given the 

11 term in subpart 2.101 of the Federal Acquisition 

12 Regulation and includes associated services. 

13 (7) QUALIFIED BUSINESS WHOLLY-OWNED

14 THROUGH AN EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP

15 PLAN.—The term ‘‘qualified businesses wholly-owned 

16 through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan’’ means 

17 an S corporation (as defined in section 1361(a)(1) 

18 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) for which 

19 100 percent of the outstanding stock is held through 

20 an employee stock ownership plan (as defined in sec21 tion 4975(e)(7) of such Code). 

22 (8) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.— 

23 The term ‘‘relevant committees of Congress’’ means 

24 the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern25 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 Oversight and Reform of the House of Representa2 tives. 

3 (9) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi4 ness’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘small busi5 ness concern’’ in section 3 of the Small Business Act 

6 (15 U.S.C. 632). 

7 SEC. 4. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. 

8 (a) PATHWAYS TO PROCUREMENT PILOT PRO9 GRAM.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis12 trator, in coordination with the Federal Acquisition 

13 Institute and the Office of Personnel Management, 

14 as necessary, shall pilot a program for entry of jun15 ior and mid-career professionals to the General 

16 Schedule Contracting series (GS–1102) workforce, 

17 by— 

18 (A) considering the inclusion of program 

19 participants from other job series and fields, in20 cluding veterans, military spouses, and private 

21 sector procurement professionals; 

22 (B) providing alternatives to education and 

23 training requirements for entry into the General 

24 Schedule Contracting series (GS–1102) work25 force, such as allowing for use of educational 


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1 credits in a technical discipline relevant to 

2 agency procurement, such as information and 

3 communications technology and scientific and 

4 engineering disciplines; 

5 (C) providing pathways to reciprocity or 

6 fulfillment of certification requirements for De7 partment of Defense professional contracting 

8 certification holders and commercial sector ac9 quisition certification holders, such as certified 

10 professional contract managers and certified 

11 Federal contract managers; and 

12 (D) providing a capstone class or experi13 ence and relevant mentorship opportunities. 

14 (2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 2 years after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis16 trator shall provide to the relevant committees of 

17 Congress a briefing on implementation of the pilot 

18 program and any recommendations related to expan19 sion or extension. 

20 (3) DURATION.—The duration of the pilot pro21 gram under this subsection shall be not less than 5 

22 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

23 (b) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—Not later than 1 

24 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed25 eral Acquisition Institute shall incorporate experiential 


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1 learning into the training framework for the General 

2 Schedule Contracting series (GS–1102). 

3 (c) TRAINING ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICA4 TIONS TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal 

7 Acquisition Institute, in coordination with the Ad8 ministrator, the Administrator of General Services, 

9 the Chief Information Officers Council, and the 

10 United States Digital Service shall develop and im11 plement or otherwise provide a cross-functional in12 formation and communications technology acquisi13 tion training program to acquisition workforce mem14 bers involved in acquiring information and commu15 nications technology. The training shall— 

16 (A) include learning objectives related to 

17 market research and communicating with in18 dustry, developing requirements, acquisition 

19 planning, and awarding and administering con20 tracts for information and communications 

21 technology; 

22 (B) include learning objectives encouraging 

23 use of small business programs to acquire infor24 mation and communications technology; 


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1 (C) include learning objectives encouraging 

2 the use of commercial or commercially available 

3 off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies to the great4 est extent practicable; 

5 (D) include case studies of lessons learned 

6 from Federal information and communications 

7 technology procurements and contracts; 

8 (E) include experiential learning opportu9 nities; 

10 (F) include continuous learning rec11 ommendations and resources to keep the skills 

12 of acquisition workforce members current; and 

13 (G) be made available to acquisition work14 force members designated by a Chief Acquisi15 tion Officer, Senior Procurement Executive, or 

16 Head of the Contracting Activity to participate 

17 in the training program. 

18 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

20 of the Federal Acquisition Institute shall provide to 

21 the relevant committees of Congress, the Chief Ac22 quisition Officers Council and the Chief Information 

23 Officers Council— 

24 (A) a briefing outlining the Director’s 

25 progress in developing and implementing or 


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1 otherwise providing the information and com2 munications technology acquisition training de3 scribed in paragraph (1); and 

4 (B) a list of any congressionally mandated 

5 acquisition training that the Director deter6 mines to be outdated or no longer necessary for 

7 other reasons. 

8 (3) DURATION.—The training program shall be 

9 offered for a minimum of 5 years following the date 

10 of implementation of the training program. 

11 SEC. 5. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS. 

12 (a) GUIDANCE ON INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT

13 METHODS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the 

14 enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue guid15 ance to inform executive agencies on the availability of 

16 streamlined and alternative procurement methods for pro17 curement of information and communications technology, 

18 including— 

19 (1) simplified procedures for certain commercial 

20 products and commercial services in accordance with 

21 subpart 13.5 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, 

22 prize competitions under the America COMPETES 

23 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–358), 

24 commercial solutions opening authorities as provided 

25 in this section or under separate authority, the 


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1 Small Business Innovation Research Program, and 

2 joint venture partnerships through agreement with 

3 National Technical Innovation Service within the 

4 Department of Commerce; and 

5 (2) information on appropriate use, examples 

6 and templates, and any other information deter7 mined relevant by the Administrator to assist con8 tracting officers and other members of the acquisi9 tion workforce in utilizing the procedures described 

10 in paragraph (1). 

11 (b) EXPANSION OF COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS OPEN12 ING AUTHORITY.—Section 880 of the National Defense 

13 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114– 

14 328; 41 U.S.C. 3301 note) is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

17 the following new subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(C) The head of an executive agency ap19 proved for the program, on a pilot or perma20 nent basis, by the Director of the Office of 

21 Management and Budget.’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 

23 the following new subparagraph: 


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1 ‘‘(C) An executive agency approved for the 

2 program by the Director of the Office of Man3 agement and Budget.’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘$10,000,000’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘$25,000,000’’; 

6 (3) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol7 lows: 

8 ‘‘(e) REPORTING AND DATA COLLECTION.—The 

9 head of an agency shall report information on contracts 

10 made using procedures under this section to the Office of 

11 Management and Budget as determined by the Office of 

12 Management and Budget. The Administrator shall collect 

13 and analyze data on the use of the authority under this 

14 section for the purposes of— 

15 ‘‘(1) developing and sharing best practices; 

16 ‘‘(2) gathering information on the implementa17 tion of the authority and related policy issues; and 

18 ‘‘(3) informing the Committee on Homeland Se19 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

20 the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 

21 House of Representatives on the use of the author22 ity.’’; 

23 (4) by amending subsection (f) to read as fol24 lows: 

25 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘commercial product’ includes a 

2 commercial product or a commercial service, as 

3 those terms are defined in sections 103 and 103a, 

4 respectively, of title 41, United States Code; and 

5 ‘‘(2) the term ‘innovative’ means— 

6 ‘‘(A) any new technology, process, or meth7 od, including research and development; or 

8 ‘‘(B) any new application of an existing 

9 technology, process, or method.’’; 

10 (5) by striking subsection (g); 

11 (6) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘Pilot 

12 programs’’ and inserting ‘‘Programs’’; and 

13 (7) by striking ‘‘pilot’’ each place it appears. 

14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

15 in section 2(b) of such Act is amended by striking the 

16 item relating to section 880 and inserting the following 

17 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 880. Programs for authority to acquire innovative commercial items using 

general solicitation competitive procedures.’’. 

18 SEC. 6. ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO ENTRY IN FEDERAL 

19 CONTRACTING. 

20 (a) USE OF PAST PERFORMANCE.—Not later than 

21 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

22 Administrator shall issue guidance, including examples 

23 and templates where appropriate, on— 


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1 (1) when a wider range of projects, such as 

2 commercial or non-government, as well as Govern3 ment projects, should be accepted as relevant past 

4 performance, in order to have access to a wider pool 

5 of eligible firms with capability to perform a require6 ment, such as a requirement without much prece7 dent; and 

8 (2) use of alternative evaluation methods that 

9 may be appropriate for a requirement without much 

10 precedent. 

11 (b) ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO ENTRY.— 

12 (1) ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO ENTRY WORK13 ING GROUP.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

14 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

15 convene a working group or an appropriate existing 

16 body (in this section referred to as the ‘‘working 

17 group’’), to make recommendations to reduce bar18 riers to entry for entities seeking to do business with 

19 the Federal Government. 

20 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The working group con21 vened under paragraph (1) shall be chaired by the 

22 Administrator or a designee of the Administrator 

23 and include, at a minimum, representatives from: 

24 (A) The General Services Administration. 


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1 (B) The Department of Homeland Secu2 rity. 

3 (C) The Department of Commerce. 

4 (D) The Department of Defense. 

5 (E) The Department of Health and 

6 Human Services. 

7 (F) The Small Business Administration. 

8 (G) Any other agencies or organizations, 

9 including national security agencies, determined 

10 appropriate by the Administrator. 

11 (3) CONSULTATION.—The working group shall 

12 obtain input from the public, including from the 

13 Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) 

14 network and from other industry representatives, on 

15 ways in which Federal procurement policies and reg16 ulations are obsolete, overly burdensome or restric17 tive, and serve to create barriers to participation in 

18 Federal contracting or unnecessarily increase bid 

19 and proposal costs. 

20 (4) EXAMINATION OF ACTIONS.—The working 

21 group shall consider the input obtained under para22 graph (3) and any other information determined to 

23 be appropriate by the Administrator to identify leg24 islative, regulatory, and other actions to foster more 

25 resilient supply chains, provide access to a wider 


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1 pool of qualified vendors, and increase opportunities 

2 for participation of new, small, and nontraditional 

3 businesses in the procurement process, in addition to 

4 addressing other barriers. 

5 (5) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than two 

6 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

7 Administrator shall, in consultation with the Federal 

8 Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Chief Acquisi9 tion Officers Council, the working group, and other 

10 agencies as appropriate, implement the regulatory 

11 and other non-legislative actions identified under 

12 paragraph (4) to address barriers to entry for enti13 ties seeking to participate in Federal Government 

14 procurement. 

15 (6) BRIEFING.—Not later than two years after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis17 trator shall brief the relevant committees of Con18 gress on the legislative actions identified under para19 graph (4), and the actions implemented under para20 graph (5). 

21 (c) REVISION TO THE MANDATORY USE OF THE

22 COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS.—Section 1502(b)(1) of 

23 title 41, United States Code, is amended— 

24 (1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘the 

25 amount set forth in section 3702(a)(1)(A) of title 10 


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1 as the amount is adjusted in accordance with appli2 cable requirements of law’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘$15,000,000’’; and 

4 (2) in subparagraph (C)— 

5 (A) in clause (ii), by striking the semicolon 

6 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

7 (B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 

8 inserting a period; and 

9 (C) by striking clause (iv). 

10 SEC. 7. INCENTIVIZING EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP 

11 PLANS FOR BUSINESS GROWTH. 

12 (a) PILOT PROGRAM TO USE NONCOMPETITIVE PRO13 CEDURES FOR CERTAIN FOLLOW-ON CONTRACTS TO

14 QUALIFIED BUSINESSES WHOLLY-OWNED THROUGH AN

15 EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN (ESOP).— 

16 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator may 

17 expand the pilot program authorized by section 874 

18 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

19 Year 2022 (Public Law 117–81; 10 U.S.C. 3204 

20 note) for governmentwide use, including by coordi21 nating as necessary with the Federal Acquisition 

22 Regulatory Council to make related amendments to 

23 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

24 (2) FOLLOW-ON CONTRACTS.—Notwithstanding 

25 the requirements of section 3301 of title 41, United 


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1 States Code, for purposes of carrying out a govern2 mentwide ESOP pilot program established under 

3 paragraph (1), the products or services to be pro4 cured by an executive agency under a follow-on con5 tract with a qualified business wholly-owned through 

6 an ESOP for the continued development, production, 

7 or provision of products or services that are the 

8 same as or substantially similar to the products or 

9 services procured under a prior contract may be pro10 cured through procedures other than competitive 

11 procedures if the performance of the qualified busi12 ness on the prior contract was rated as satisfactory 

13 (or the equivalent) or better. 

14 (3) LIMITATION.—A qualified business wholly15 owned through an ESOP may have a single oppor16 tunity for award of a sole-source follow-on contract 

17 under this subsection, unless the senior procurement 

18 executive of the executive agency awarding the con19 tract approves a waiver of such limitation. 

20 (b) VERIFICATION AND REPORTING OF QUALIFIED

21 BUSINESSES WHOLLY-OWNED THROUGH AN EMPLOYEE

22 STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN.—Under a pilot program estab23 lished under this section, the Administrator shall establish 

24 procedures— 


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1 (1) for businesses to verify status as a qualified 

2 business wholly-owned through an ESOP for the 

3 purposes of this section by using existing Federal re4 porting mechanisms; 

5 (2) for a qualified businesses wholly-owned 

6 through an ESOP to certify that not more than 50 

7 percent of the amount paid under the contract will 

8 be expended on subcontracts, including similarly sit9 uated ESOPs if determined appropriate by the Ad10 ministrator, subject to such necessary and reason11 able waivers as the implementing guidance or regu12 lations may prescribe; and 

13 (3) to record and provide to relevant commit14 tees of Congress upon request information on each 

15 follow-on contract awarded under authority of this 

16 subsection, including details relevant to the nature 

17 of such contract and the qualified business wholly18 owned through an ESOP that received the contract. 

19 (c) SUNSET.—A pilot program established under this 

20 section shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act. 

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