II 

Calendar No. 80 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

[Report No. 117–26] 

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, Mr. CARPER, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

JUNE 21, 2021 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

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 


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

2 2021’’. 

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds that— 

5 (1) small business participation in the Federal 

6 marketplace is key to ensuring a strong industrial 

7 base; 

8 (2) the Business Opportunity Development Re9 form Act of 1988 (Public Law 100–656) sets forth 

10 the requirement for the President to establish Gov11 ernment-wide goals for procurement contracts 

12 awarded to small businesses; 

13 (3) each year, the Small Business Administra14 tion works with each Federal agency to set their re15 spective contracting goals and publishes a scorecard 

16 to ensure that the total of all Federal agency goals 

17 meets the required targets for the Federal Govern18 ment; 

19 (4) the Department has received among the 

20 highest scorecard letter grades 10 years in a row 

21 and is the largest Federal agency to have such a 

22 track record; 

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

24 the United States, including the homeland security 

25 community, there are small businesses working to 


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1 support the mission and playing a critical role in de2 livering efficient and innovative solutions to the ac3 quisition needs of the Federal Government; 

4 (6) the Procurement Innovation Lab of the De5 partment— 

6 (A) is aimed at experimenting with innova7 tive acquisition techniques across the Homeland 

8 Security enterprise Enterprise; 

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

10 share lessons learned, and promote best prac11 tices; 

12 (C) fosters cultural changes that promote 

13 innovation and managed risk taking through a 

14 continuous cycle of testing, obtaining feedback, 

15 sharing information, and retesting where appro16 priate; and 

17 (D) aims to make the acquisition process 

18 more smooth and innovative within the con19 struct of the Federal Acquisition Regulation for 

20 both the Federal Government and contractors; 

21 and 

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

23 better business practices by many Federal agencies, 

24 the overall adoption of modernized business practices 


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1 and advanced technologies across the Federal Gov2 ernment remains slow and uneven. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis6 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro7 curement Policy. 

8 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

12 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

13 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

14 Senate; and 

15 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 

16 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 

17 the Committee on Small Business of the House 

18 of Representatives. 

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

20 Chief Acquisition Officers Council established under 

21 section 1311 of title 41, United States Code. 

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

23 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

24 (5) HOMELAND SECURITY ENTERPRISE ENTER25 PRISE.—The term ‘‘Homeland Security enterprise 


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1 Enterprise’’ has the meaning given the term in sec2 tion 2211(h) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

3 (6 U.S.C. 661(h)). 

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

5 the scorecard described in section 868(b) of the Na6 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

7 2016 (15 U.S.C. 644 note). 

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

9 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

10 (8) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi11 ness’’ means— 

12 (A) a qualified HUBZone small business 

13 concern, a small business concern, a small busi14 ness concern owned and controlled by service15 disabled veterans, or a small business concern 

16 owned and controlled by women, as those terms 

17 are defined in section 3 of the Small Business 

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

19 (B) a small business concern owned and 

20 controlled by socially and economically dis21 advantaged individuals, as defined in section 

22 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 

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

24 (C) a small business concern uncondition25 ally owned by an economically disadvantaged 


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1 Indian tribe or an economically disadvantaged 

2 Native Hawaiian organization that qualifies as 

3 a socially and economically disadvantaged small 

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

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

6 637(a)(4)). 

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

8 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary for Manage9 ment of the Department. 

10 SEC. 4. PROCUREMENT INNOVATION LAB REPORT. 

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

12 annual report on a website of the Department on Procure13 ment Innovation Lab projects that have used innovative 

14 techniques within the Department to accomplish— 

15 (1) improving or encouraging better competi16 tion; 

17 (2) reducing time to award; 

18 (3) cost savings; 

19 (4) better mission outcomes; or 

20 (5) meeting the goals for contracts awarded to 

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

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

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

24 and disseminate guidance and offer training for con25 tracting officers, contracting specialists, program manVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:25 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S583.RS S583

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1 agers, and other personnel of the Department, as deter2 mined appropriate by the Under Secretary, concerning 

3 when and how to use the innovative procurement tech4 niques of the Department. 

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

6 share best practices across the Department and make 

7 available to other Federal agencies information to improve 

8 procurement methods and training, as determined appro9 priate by the Under Secretary. 

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

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

12 of this Act. 

13 SEC. 5. COUNCIL. 

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

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

16 convene the Council to examine best practices for acquisi17 tion innovation in contracting in the Federal Government, 

18 including small business contracting in accordance with 

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

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

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

22 working group to address the requirements of this section, 

23 which, if formed, shall— 

24 (1) be chaired by the Administrator or a des25 ignee of the Administrator; and 


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1 (2) be composed of— 

2 (A) the Chief Procurement Officer of the 

3 Department; 

4 (B) Council members from— 

5 (i) the General Services Administra6 tion; 

7 (ii) the Department of Defense; 

8 (iii) the Department of the Treasury; 

9 (iv) the Department of Veterans Af10 fairs; 

11 (v) the Department of Health and 

12 Human Services; 

13 (vi) the Small Business Administra14 tion; and 

15 (vii) such other Federal agencies as 

16 determined by the chair of the Council 

17 from among Federal agencies that have 

18 demonstrated significant, sustained 

19 progress using innovative acquisition prac20 tices and technologies, including for small 

21 business contracting, during each of the 3 

22 years preceding the date of enactment of 

23 this Act; and 

24 (C) other employees, as determined appro25 priate by the chair of the Council, of Federal 


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1 agencies with the requisite senior experience to 

2 make recommendations to improve Federal 

3 agency efficiency, effectiveness, and economy, 

4 including in promoting small business con5 tracting. 

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

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

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

9 date of enactment of this Act and thereafter on a 

10 quarterly basis until the Council submits the report 

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

12 (2) conduct outreach with the workforce and 

13 the public in meeting the requirements under sub14 section (d)(1). 

15 (d) REPORT.— 

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

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

18 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

19 a report that describes— 

20 (A) innovative acquisition practices and 

21 applications of technologies that have worked 

22 well in achieving better procurement outcomes, 

23 including increased efficiency, improved pro24 gram outcomes, better customer experience, and 

25 meeting or exceeding the goals under section 


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

2 644(g)), and the reasons why those practices 

3 have succeeded; 

4 (B) steps to identify and adopt trans5 formational commercial business practices, 

6 modernized data analytics, and advanced tech7 nologies that allow decision making to occur in 

8 a more friction-free buying environment and 

9 improve customer experience; and 

10 (C) any recommendations for statutory 

11 changes to accelerate the adoption of innovative 

12 acquisition practices. 

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

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

15 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees 

16 on the means by which the findings and rec17 ommendations of the report have been disseminated 

18 under paragraph (3). 

19 (3) PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF RE20 PORT FINDINGS.—To promote more rapid adoption 

21 of acquisition best practices, the Administrator 

22 shall— 

23 (A) publish the report required under 

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

25 Management and Budget and on the Innovation 


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1 Hub on the Acquisition Gateway or any suc2 cessor Government-wide site available for in3 creasing awareness of resources dedicated to 

4 procurement innovation; and 

5 (B) encourage the head of each Federal 

6 agency to maintain a site on the website of the 

7 Federal agency for acquisition and contracting 

8 professionals, program managers, members of 

9 the public, and others as appropriate that is— 

10 (i) dedicated to acquisition innovation; 

11 and 

12 (ii) identifies— 

13 (I) resources, including the ac14 quisition innovation advocate and in15 dustry liaison of the Federal agency; 

16 (II) learning assets for the work17 force, including the findings and rec18 ommendations made in the report re19 quired under paragraph (1); 

20 (III) events to build awareness 

21 and understanding of innovation ac22 tivities; 

23 (IV) award recognition programs 

24 and recent recipients; and 


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1 (V) upcoming plans to leverage 

2 innovative practices and technologies. 

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

4 Council under this section, the Council is encourage en5 couraged to consult with governmental and nongovern6 mental experts. 

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

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

9 on which the Council conducts the briefing required under 

10 subsection (d)(2). 


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Calendar No. 80 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

[Report No. 117–26] 

A BILL 

To promote innovative acquisition techniques and 

procurement strategies, and for other purposes. 

JUNE 21, 2021 

Reported with amendments 


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