117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

AN ACT 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Rigorous 

3 and Innovative Cost Efficiencies for Federal Procurement 

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

5 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) small business participation in the Federal 

9 marketplace is key to ensuring a strong industrial 

10 base; 

11 (2) the Business Opportunity Development Re12 form Act of 1988 (Public Law 100–656) sets forth 

13 the requirement for the President to establish Gov14 ernment-wide goals for procurement contracts 

15 awarded to small businesses; 

16 (3) each year, the Small Business Administra17 tion works with each Federal agency to set their re18 spective contracting goals and publishes a scorecard 

19 to ensure that the total of all Federal agency goals 

20 meets the required targets for the Federal Govern21 ment; 

22 (4) the Department has received among the 

23 highest scorecard letter grades 10 years in a row 

24 and is the largest Federal agency to have such a 

25 track record; 
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1 (5) in virtually every segment of the economy of 

2 the United States, including the homeland security 

3 community, there are small businesses working to 

4 support the mission and playing a critical role in de5 livering efficient and innovative solutions to the ac6 quisition needs of the Federal Government; 

7 (6) the Procurement Innovation Lab of the De8 partment— 

9 (A) is aimed at experimenting with innova10 tive acquisition techniques across the Homeland 

11 Security Enterprise; 

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

13 share lessons learned, and promote best prac14 tices; 

15 (C) fosters cultural changes that promote 

16 innovation and managed risk taking through a 

17 continuous cycle of testing, obtaining feedback, 

18 sharing information, and retesting where appro19 priate; and 

20 (D) aims to make the acquisition process 

21 more smooth and innovative within the con22 struct of the Federal Acquisition Regulation for 

23 both the Federal Government and contractors; 

24 and 
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1 (7) despite progress in the adoption of new and 

2 better business practices by many Federal agencies, 

3 the overall adoption of modernized business practices 

4 and advanced technologies across the Federal Gov5 ernment remains slow and uneven. 

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro10 curement Policy. 

11 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT12 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com13 mittees’’ means— 

14 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

15 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

16 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 

17 Senate; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 

19 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 

20 the Committee on Small Business of the House 

21 of Representatives. 

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

23 Chief Acquisition Officers Council established under 

24 section 1311 of title 41, United States Code. 
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1 (4) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

2 means the Department of Homeland Security. 

3 (5) HOMELAND SECURITY ENTERPRISE.—The 

4 term ‘‘Homeland Security Enterprise’’ has the 

5 meaning given the term in section 2211(h) of the 

6 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 661(h)). 

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

8 the scorecard described in section 868(b) of the Na9 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

10 2016 (15 U.S.C. 644 note). 

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

12 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

13 (8) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi14 ness’’ means— 

15 (A) a qualified HUBZone small business 

16 concern, a small business concern, a small busi17 ness concern owned and controlled by service18 disabled veterans, or a small business concern 

19 owned and controlled by women, as those terms 

20 are defined in section 3 of the Small Business 

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

22 (B) a small business concern owned and 

23 controlled by socially and economically dis24 advantaged individuals, as defined in section 
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1 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 

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

3 (C) a small business concern uncondition4 ally owned by an economically disadvantaged 

5 Indian tribe or an economically disadvantaged 

6 Native Hawaiian organization that qualifies as 

7 a socially and economically disadvantaged small 

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

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

10 637(a)(4)). 

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

12 Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary for Manage13 ment of the Department. 

14 SEC. 4. PROCUREMENT INNOVATION LAB REPORT. 

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

16 annual report on a website of the Department on Procure17 ment Innovation Lab projects that have used innovative 

18 techniques within the Department to accomplish— 

19 (1) improving or encouraging better competi20 tion; 

21 (2) reducing time to award; 

22 (3) cost savings; 

23 (4) better mission outcomes; or 
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1 (5) meeting the goals for contracts awarded to 

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

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

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

5 and disseminate guidance and offer training for con6 tracting officers, contracting specialists, program man7 agers, and other personnel of the Department, as deter8 mined appropriate by the Under Secretary, concerning 

9 when and how to use the innovative procurement tech10 niques of the Department. 

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

12 share best practices across the Department and make 

13 available to other Federal agencies information to improve 

14 procurement methods and training, as determined appro15 priate by the Under Secretary. 

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

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

18 of this Act. 

19 SEC. 5. COUNCIL. 

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

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

22 convene the Council to examine best practices for acquisi23 tion innovation in contracting in the Federal Government, 

24 including small business contracting in accordance with 
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1 the goals established under section 15(g) of the Small 

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

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

4 working group to address the requirements of this section, 

5 which, if formed, shall— 

6 (1) be chaired by the Administrator or a des7 ignee of the Administrator; and 

8 (2) be composed of— 

9 (A) the Chief Procurement Officer of the 

10 Department; 

11 (B) Council members from— 

12 (i) the General Services Administra13 tion; 

14 (ii) the Department of Defense; 

15 (iii) the Department of the Treasury; 

16 (iv) the Department of Veterans Af17 fairs; 

18 (v) the Department of Health and 

19 Human Services; 

20 (vi) the Small Business Administra21 tion; and 

22 (vii) such other Federal agencies as 

23 determined by the chair of the Council 

24 from among Federal agencies that have 

25 demonstrated significant, sustained 
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1 progress using innovative acquisition prac2 tices and technologies, including for small 

3 business contracting, during each of the 3 

4 years preceding the date of enactment of 

5 this Act; and 

6 (C) other employees, as determined appro7 priate by the chair of the Council, of Federal 

8 agencies with the requisite senior experience to 

9 make recommendations to improve Federal 

10 agency efficiency, effectiveness, and economy, 

11 including in promoting small business con12 tracting. 

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

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

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

16 date of enactment of this Act and thereafter on a 

17 quarterly basis until the Council submits the report 

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

19 (2) conduct outreach with the workforce and 

20 the public in meeting the requirements under sub21 section (d)(1). 

22 (d) REPORT.— 

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

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Council shall 
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1 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

2 a report that describes— 

3 (A) innovative acquisition practices and 

4 applications of technologies that have worked 

5 well in achieving better procurement outcomes, 

6 including increased efficiency, improved pro7 gram outcomes, better customer experience, and 

8 meeting or exceeding the goals under section 

9 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

10 644(g)), and the reasons why those practices 

11 have succeeded; 

12 (B) steps to identify and adopt trans13 formational commercial business practices, 

14 modernized data analytics, and advanced tech15 nologies that allow decision making to occur in 

16 a more friction-free buying environment and 

17 improve customer experience; and 

18 (C) any recommendations for statutory 

19 changes to accelerate the adoption of innovative 

20 acquisition practices. 

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

22 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 

23 shall brief the appropriate congressional committees 

24 on the means by which the findings and rec-
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1 ommendations of the report have been disseminated 

2 under paragraph (3). 

3 (3) PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF RE4 PORT FINDINGS.—To promote more rapid adoption 

5 of acquisition best practices, the Administrator 

6 shall— 

7 (A) publish the report required under 

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

9 Management and Budget and on the Innovation 

10 Hub on the Acquisition Gateway or any suc11 cessor Government-wide site available for in12 creasing awareness of resources dedicated to 

13 procurement innovation; and 

14 (B) encourage the head of each Federal 

15 agency to maintain a site on the website of the 

16 Federal agency for acquisition and contracting 

17 professionals, program managers, members of 

18 the public, and others as appropriate that is— 

19 (i) dedicated to acquisition innovation; 

20 and 

21 (ii) identifies— 

22 (I) resources, including the ac23 quisition innovation advocate and in24 dustry liaison of the Federal agency; 
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1 (II) learning assets for the work2 force, including the findings and rec3 ommendations made in the report re4 quired under paragraph (1); 

5 (III) events to build awareness 

6 and understanding of innovation ac7 tivities; 

8 (IV) award recognition programs 

9 and recent recipients; and 

10 (V) upcoming plans to leverage 

11 innovative practices and technologies. 

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

13 Council under this section, the Council is encouraged to 

14 consult with governmental and nongovernmental experts. 

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

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

17 on which the Council conducts the briefing required under 

18 subsection (d)(2). 

Passed the Senate July 29, 2021. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

AN ACT 

To promote innovative acquisition techniques and 

procurement strategies, and for other purposes.