II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

To promote innovative acquisition techniques and procurement strategies, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2021 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Ms. ERNST, and Mr. CARPER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote innovative acquisition techniques and 

procurement strategies, 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 ‘‘Promoting Rigorous 

5 and Innovative Cost Efficiencies for Federal Procurement 

6 and Acquisitions Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘PRICE Act of 

7 2021’’. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) small business participation in the Federal 

2 marketplace is key to ensuring a strong industrial 

3 base; 

4 (2) the Business Opportunity Development Re5 form Act of 1988 (Public Law 100–656) sets forth 

6 the requirement for the President to establish Gov7 ernment-wide goals for procurement contracts 

8 awarded to small businesses; 

9 (3) each year, the Small Business Administra10 tion works with each Federal agency to set their re11 spective contracting goals and publishes a scorecard 

12 to ensure that the total of all Federal agency goals 

13 meets the required targets for the Federal Govern14 ment; 

15 (4) the Department has received among the 

16 highest scorecard letter grades 10 years in a row 

17 and is the largest Federal agency to have such a 

18 track record; 

19 (5) in virtually every segment of the economy of 

20 the United States, including the homeland security 

21 community, there are small businesses working to 

22 support the mission and playing a critical role in de23 livering efficient and innovative solutions to the ac24 quisition needs of the Federal Government; 


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1 (6) the Procurement Innovation Lab of the De2 partment— 

3 (A) is aimed at experimenting with innova4 tive acquisition techniques across the Homeland 

5 Security enterprise; 

6 (B) provides a forum to test new ideas, 

7 share lessons learned, and promote best prac8 tices; 

9 (C) fosters cultural changes that promote 

10 innovation and managed risk taking through a 

11 continuous cycle of testing, obtaining feedback, 

12 sharing information, and retesting where appro13 priate; and 

14 (D) aims to make the acquisition process 

15 more smooth and innovative within the con16 struct of the Federal Acquisition Regulation for 

17 both the Federal Government and contractors; 

18 and 

19 (7) despite progress in the adoption of new and 

20 better business practices by many Federal agencies, 

21 the overall adoption of modernized business practices 

22 and advanced technologies across the Federal Gov23 ernment remains slow and uneven. 

24 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro3 curement Policy. 

4 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT5 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com6 mittees’’ means— 

7 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

8 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

9 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

10 Senate; and 

11 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 

12 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 

13 the Committee on Small Business of the House 

14 of Representatives. 

15 (3) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the 

16 Chief Acquisition Officers Council established under 

17 section 1311 of title 41, United States Code. 

18 (4) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

19 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

20 (5) HOMELAND SECURITY ENTERPRISE.—The 

21 term ‘‘Homeland Security enterprise’’ has the mean22 ing given the term in section 2211(h) of the Home23 land Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 661(h)). 

24 (6) SCORECARD.—The term ‘‘scorecard’’ means 

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1 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

2 2016 (15 U.S.C. 644 note). 

3 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

5 (8) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi6 ness’’ means— 

7 (A) a qualified HUBZone small business 

8 concern, a small business concern, a small busi9 ness concern owned and controlled by service10 disabled veterans, or a small business concern 

11 owned and controlled by women, as those terms 

12 are defined in section 3 of the Small Business 

13 Act (15 U.S.C. 632); 

14 (B) a small business concern owned and 

15 controlled by socially and economically dis16 advantaged individuals, as defined in section 

17 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 

18 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)); or 

19 (C) a small business concern uncondition20 ally owned by an economically disadvantaged 

21 Indian tribe or an economically disadvantaged 

22 Native Hawaiian organization that qualifies as 

23 a socially and economically disadvantaged small 

24 business concern, as defined in section 8(a)(4) 


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1 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

2 637(a)(4)). 

3 (9) UNDER SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 

4 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary for Manage5 ment of the Department. 

6 SEC. 4. PROCUREMENT INNOVATION LAB REPORT. 

7 (a) REPORT.—The Under Secretary shall publish an 

8 annual report on a website of the Department on Procure9 ment Innovation Lab projects that have used innovative 

10 techniques within the Department to accomplish— 

11 (1) improving or encouraging better competi12 tion; 

13 (2) reducing time to award; 

14 (3) cost savings; 

15 (4) better mission outcomes; or 

16 (5) meeting the goals for contracts awarded to 

17 small business concerns under section 15(g) of the 

18 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)). 

19 (b) EDUCATION.—The Under Secretary shall develop 

20 and disseminate guidance and offer training for con21 tracting officers, contracting specialists, program man22 agers, and other personnel of the Department, as deter23 mined appropriate by the Under Secretary, concerning 

24 when and how to use the innovative procurement tech25 niques of the Department. 


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1 (c) BEST PRACTICES.—The Under Secretary shall 

2 share best practices across the Department and make 

3 available to other Federal agencies information to improve 

4 procurement methods and training, as determined appro5 priate by the Under Secretary. 

6 (d) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to be effective 

7 on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment 

8 of this Act. 

9 SEC. 5. COUNCIL. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 45 days after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

12 convene the Council to examine best practices for acquisi13 tion innovation in contracting in the Federal Government, 

14 including small business contracting in accordance with 

15 the goals established under section 15(g) of the Small 

16 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)). 

17 (b) WORKING GROUP.—The Council may form a 

18 working group to address the requirements of this section, 

19 which, if formed, shall— 

20 (1) be chaired by the Administrator or a des21 ignee of the Administrator; and 

22 (2) be composed of— 

23 (A) the Chief Procurement Officer of the 

24 Department; 

25 (B) Council members from— 


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1 (i) the General Services Administra2 tion; 

3 (ii) the Department of Defense; 

4 (iii) the Department of the Treasury; 

5 (iv) the Department of Veterans Af6 fairs; 

7 (v) the Department of Health and 

8 Human Services; 

9 (vi) the Small Business Administra10 tion; and 

11 (vii) such other Federal agencies as 

12 determined by the chair of the Council 

13 from among Federal agencies that have 

14 demonstrated significant, sustained 

15 progress using innovative acquisition prac16 tices and technologies, including for small 

17 business contracting, during each of the 3 

18 years preceding the date of enactment of 

19 this Act; and 

20 (C) other employees, as determined appro21 priate by the chair of the Council, of Federal 

22 agencies with the requisite senior experience to 

23 make recommendations to improve Federal 

24 agency efficiency, effectiveness, and economy, 


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1 including in promoting small business con2 tracting. 

3 (c) DUTIES OF THE COUNCIL.—The Council, or a 

4 working group formed under subsection (b), shall— 

5 (1) convene not later than 90 days after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act and thereafter on a 

7 quarterly basis until the Council submits the report 

8 required under subsection (d)(1); and 

9 (2) conduct outreach with the workforce and 

10 the public in meeting the requirements under sub11 section (d)(1). 

12 (d) REPORT.— 

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

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Council shall 

15 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

16 a report that describes— 

17 (A) innovative acquisition practices and 

18 applications of technologies that have worked 

19 well in achieving better procurement outcomes, 

20 including increased efficiency, improved pro21 gram outcomes, better customer experience, and 

22 meeting or exceeding the goals under section 

23 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

24 644(g)), and the reasons why those practices 

25 have succeeded; 


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1 (B) steps to identify and adopt trans2 formational commercial business practices, 

3 modernized data analytics, and advanced tech4 nologies that allow decision making to occur in 

5 a more friction-free buying environment and 

6 improve customer experience; and 

7 (C) any recommendations for statutory 

8 changes to accelerate the adoption of innovative 

9 acquisition practices. 

10 (2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 18 months after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

12 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees 

13 on the means by which the findings and rec14 ommendations of the report have been disseminated 

15 under paragraph (3). 

16 (3) PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF RE17 PORT FINDINGS.—To promote more rapid adoption 

18 of acquisition best practices, the Administrator 

19 shall— 

20 (A) publish the report required under 

21 paragraph (1) on the website of the Office of 

22 Management and Budget and on the Innovation 

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1 creasing awareness of resources dedicated to 

2 procurement innovation; and 

3 (B) encourage the head of each Federal 

4 agency to maintain a site on the website of the 

5 Federal agency for acquisition and contracting 

6 professionals, program managers, members of 

7 the public, and others as appropriate that is— 

8 (i) dedicated to acquisition innovation; 

9 and 

10 (ii) identifies— 

11 (I) resources, including the ac12 quisition innovation advocate and in13 dustry liaison of the Federal agency; 

14 (II) learning assets for the work15 force, including the findings and rec16 ommendations made in the report re17 quired under paragraph (1); 

18 (III) events to build awareness 

19 and understanding of innovation ac20 tivities; 

21 (IV) award recognition programs 

22 and recent recipients; and 

23 (V) upcoming plans to leverage 

24 innovative practices and technologies. 


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1 (e) EXPERTS.—In carrying out the duties of the 

2 Council under this section, the Council is encourage to 

3 consult with governmental and nongovernmental experts. 

4 (f) TERMINATION.—The duties of the Council as set 

5 forth in this section shall terminate 30 days after the date 

6 on which the Council conducts the briefing required under 

7 subsection (d)(2). 

Æ 


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