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[House Report 110-494]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

110th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    110-494

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                   LOCAL PREPAREDNESS ACQUISITION ACT

                                _______
                                

 December 17, 2007.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Waxman, from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 3179]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to whom 
was referred the bill (H.R. 3179) to amend title 40, United 
States Code, to authorize the use of Federal supply schedules 
for the acquisition of law enforcement, security, and certain 
other related items by State and local governments, having 
considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment 
and recommend that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     2
Background and Need for Legislation..............................     2
Legislative History..............................................     2
Section-by-Section...............................................     2
Explanation of Amendments........................................     3
Committee Consideration..........................................     3
Rollcall Votes...................................................     3
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch.....................     3
Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the 
  Committee......................................................     3
Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives............     3
Constitutional Authority Statement...............................     3
Federal Advisory Committee Act...................................     3
Unfunded Mandates Statement......................................     3
Earmark Identification...........................................     4
Committee Estimate...............................................     4
Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate...     4
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............     5

                          Purpose and Summary

    H.R. 3179, the Local Preparedness Acquisition Act, was 
introduced by Rep. Towns on July 25, 2007. H.R. 3179 authorizes 
state and local governments to purchase homeland security and 
public safety equipment from Federal Supply Schedules of the 
General Services Administration (GSA). Participation in the 
cooperative purchasing program is voluntary for both state and 
local governments and vendors, and requires no federal 
appropriations.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    The GSA Federal Supply Schedules are catalogues of more 
than 4 million commercial goods and services currently 
available to federal agencies at negotiated discount prices. 
Section 211 of the E-Government Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-347) 
enacted the cooperative purchasing program, authorizing state 
and local governments to purchase information technology 
equipment from GSA schedules. This authority was expanded in 
2006 to authorize cooperative purchasing for disaster recovery 
(Pub. L. 109-364 Sec. 833). The cooperative purchasing program 
has helped state and local governments save money and 
streamline the acquisition process.
    H.R. 3179 further expands cooperative purchasing authority 
to items such as fire alarm systems, door entry control 
devices, intrusion detection sensors, bomb detection equipment, 
perimeter security and video surveillance systems, and other 
homeland security goods and services from GSA Schedule 84.
    This expanded authority will allow state and local 
governments to purchase essential homeland security and public 
safety goods and services under streamlined acquisition 
procedures using pre-negotiated, favorable pricing.

                          Legislative History

    H.R. 3179, legislation to amend title 40, United States 
Code, to authorize the use of federal supply schedules for the 
acquisition of law enforcement, security, and certain other 
related items by state and local governments, was introduced on 
July 25, 2007, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform.
    The Committee held a markup to consider H.R. 3179 on 
November 8, 2007, and ordered the bill to be favorably reported 
by voice vote.

                           Section-by-Section

Section 1: Short title

    The short title of the bill is the Local Preparedness 
Acquisition Act.

Section 2: Authorization for acquisition of law enforcement, security, 
        and certain other related items by state and local governments 
        through Federal Supply Schedules

    This section amends 40 U.S.C. 502(c) to add Federal Supply 
Schedule 84 to the GSA cooperative purchasing program.

                       Explanation of Amendments

    No amendments were adopted in Committee.

                        Committee Consideration

    On Thursday, November 8, 2007, the Committee met in open 
session and favorably ordered H.R. 3179 to be reported to the 
House by a voice vote.

                             Rollcall Votes

    No rollcall votes were held.

              Application of Law to the Legislative Branch

    Section 102(b)(3) of Public Law 104-1 requires a 
description of the application of this bill to the legislative 
branch where the bill relates to terms and conditions of 
employment or access to public services and accommodations. The 
bill does not relate to employment or access to public services 
and accommodations.

  Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause 
(2)(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee's oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the descriptive portions of 
this report.

         Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives

    In accordance with clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee's performance 
goals and objectives are reflected in the descriptive portions 
of this report, including improving public safety and 
preparedness through streamlined acquisition of necessary 
equipment.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Under clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives, the Committee must include a statement 
citing the specific powers granted to Congress to enact the law 
proposed by H.R. 3179. Article I, section 8, clause 18 of the 
Constitution of the United States grants the Congress the power 
to enact this law.

                     Federal Advisory Committee Act

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not establish 
or authorize the establishment of an advisory committee within 
the definition of 5 U.S.C. App., section 5(b).

                      Unfunded Mandates Statement

    Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act (as amended by section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act, Pub. L. 104-4) requires a statement on 
whether the provisions of the report include unfunded mandates. 
In compliance with this requirement the Committee has received 
a letter from the Congressional Budget Office included herein.

                         Earmark Identification

    H.R. 3179 does not include any congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in 
clause 9(d), 9(e), or 9(f) of rule XXI.

                           Committee Estimate

    Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 3179. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) of that rule provides 
that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has 
included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the 
bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act.

     Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

    With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and with respect 
to requirements of clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives and section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received 
the following cost estimate for H.R. 3179 from the Director of 
the Congressional Budget Office:

                                                 November 19, 2007.
Hon. Henry A. Waxman,
Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 3179, the Local 
Preparedness Acquisition Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew 
Pickford.
            Sincerely,
                                                   Peter R. Orszag.
    Enclosure.

H.R. 3179--Local Preparedness Acquisition Act

    H.R. 3179 would allow state, local, and tribal governments 
to purchase more goods and services at discount prices through 
federal supply schedules. Under current law, those governments 
may purchase a variety of information technology through the 
federal supply schedules. This legislation would expand the 
cooperative purchasing program to include specified supplies 
and services for law enforcement, fire fighting, and other 
security activities.
    Under the bill, any purchases of such supplies and services 
would be an exchange between state, local, and tribal 
governments and commercial suppliers. However, the General 
Services Administration (GSA) charges a 0.75 percent fee on all 
sales to recover the procurement and administrative costs of 
operating the supply schedule program. Based on information 
from GSA regarding the current cooperative program with those 
governments for information technology services and the 
anticipated demand under the expanded program, CBO estimates 
that increasing the number of purchases would increase 
offsetting collections by about $2 million a year. Because such 
fees are spent by GSA, the net budgetary impact of the bill 
would be negligible.
    H.R. 3179 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would benefit state, local, and tribal governments. Any costs 
those entities incur would be incurred voluntarily.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew 
Pickford (for federal costs), and Elizabeth Cove (for the state 
and local impact). This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, 
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

  In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

              SECTION 502 OF TITLE 40, UNITED STATES CODE

Sec. 502. Services for other entities

  (a) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

  (c) Use of Certain Supply Schedules.--
          (1) In general.--The Administrator may provide for 
        the use by State or local governments of Federal supply 
        schedules of the General Services Administration [for 
        automated] for the following:
                  (A) Automated data processing equipment 
                (including firmware), software, supplies, 
                support equipment, and services (as contained 
                in Federal supply classification code group 
                70).
                  (B) Alarm and signal systems, facility 
                management systems, firefighting and rescue 
                equipment, law enforcement and security 
                equipment, marine craft and related equipment, 
                special purpose clothing, and related services 
                (as contained in Federal supply classification 
                code group 84 or any amended or subsequent 
                version of that Federal supply classification 
                group).

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

                                  
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