I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9595 

To improve Federal technology procurement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 

Mr. BURLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the Committee 

on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To improve Federal technology procurement, 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 ‘‘Federal Improvement 

5 in Technology Procurement Act’’ or the ‘‘FIT Procure6 ment Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HR 9595 IH

1 (1) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—The term ‘‘ac2 quisition workforce’’ means employees of an execu3 tive agency who are responsible for procurement, 

4 contracting, program or project management that 

5 involves the performance of acquisition-related func6 tions, or others as designated by the Chief Acquisi7 tion Officer, senior procurement executive, or head 

8 of the contracting activity. 

9 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro11 curement Policy. 

12 (3) CHIEF ACQUISITION OFFICER.—The term 

13 ‘‘Chief Acquisition Officer’’ means a Chief Acquisi14 tion Officer appointed pursuant to section 1702 of 

15 title 41, United States Code. 

16 (4) CROSS-FUNCTIONAL.—The term ‘‘cross17 functional’’ means a structure in which individuals 

18 with different functional expertise or from different 

19 areas of an organization work together as a team. 

20 (5) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

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

22 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

23 (6) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—The term ‘‘ex24 periential learning’’ means on-the-job experiences or 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HR 9595 IH

1 simulations that serve to enhance workforce profes2 sional skills. 

3 (7) INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

4 TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘information and commu5 nications technology’’— 

6 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec7 tion 4713(k) of title 41, United States Code; 

8 and 

9 (B) includes information and communica10 tions technologies covered by any definition con11 tained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, 

12 including a definition added after the date of 

13 the enactment of this Act by the Federal Acqui14 sition Regulatory Council pursuant to notice 

15 and comment. 

16 (8) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.— 

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

18 the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern19 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

20 Oversight and Accountability of the House of Rep21 resentatives. 

22 (9) SENIOR PROCUREMENT EXECUTIVE.—The 

23 term ‘‘senior procurement executive’’ means a senior 

24 procurement executive designated pursuant to sec25 tion 1702(c) of title 41, United States Code. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HR 9595 IH

1 (10) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi2 ness’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘small busi3 ness concern’’ in section 3 of the Small Business Act 

4 (15 U.S.C. 632). 

5 SEC. 3. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. 

6 (a) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—Not later than 18 

7 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

8 Federal Acquisition Institute shall establish a pilot pro9 gram to consider the incorporation of experiential learning 

10 into the Federal Credentials Program, the Federal Acqui11 sition Certification-Contracting Officer’s Representative 

12 Program, and the Federal Acquisition Certification for 

13 Program and Project Managers Program, or any suc14 cessor program. 

15 (b) TRAINING ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICA16 TIONS TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di19 rector of the Federal Acquisition Institute, in coordi20 nation with the Administrator, the Administrator of 

21 General Services, and the Administrator of the Of22 fice of Electronic Government, and in consultation 

23 with the heads of other executive agencies as deter24 mined to be appropriate by the Director of the Fed25 eral Acquisition Institute, shall develop and impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9595.IH H9595

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HR 9595 IH

1 ment or otherwise provide a cross-functional infor2 mation and communications technology acquisition 

3 training program for acquisition workforce members 

4 involved in acquiring information and communica5 tions technology. The training shall do the following: 

6 (A) Include learning objectives related to 

7 market research, communicating with industry 

8 and industry perspectives on the procurement 

9 process, including how investment decisions are 

10 impacted by Government communication and 

11 engagement, developing requirements, acquisi12 tion planning, best practices for developing and 

13 executing outcome-based contracts, and source 

14 selection strategy, evaluating proposals, and 

15 awarding and administering contracts for infor16 mation and communications technology. 

17 (B) Include learning objectives that pro18 vide a basic understanding of key technologies 

19 executive agencies need, such as cloud com20 puting, artificial intelligence and artificial intel21 ligence-enabled applications, and cybersecurity 

22 solutions. 

23 (C) Include learning objectives that en24 courage the use of commercial or commercially 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•HR 9595 IH

1 available off-the-shelf technologies to the great2 est extent practicable. 

3 (D) Include case studies of lessons learned 

4 from Federal information and communications 

5 technology procurements and contracts, and re6 lated matters as determined to be relevant by 

7 the Director of the Federal Acquisition Insti8 tute. 

9 (E) Include experiential learning opportu10 nities, and opportunities to practice acquisition 

11 teaming involving collaboration of team mem12 bers with varied relevant domain expertise to 

13 complete acquisition-related tasks, including 

14 tasks with accelerated timelines. 

15 (F) Include continuous learning rec16 ommendations and resources to keep the skills 

17 of acquisition workforce members current, in18 cluding tools that help adopt or adapt the use 

19 of innovative acquisition practices or other flexi20 ble business practices commonly used in com21 mercial buys. 

22 (G) Be made available to acquisition work23 force members designated by a Chief Acquisi24 tion Officer, senior procurement executive, or 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•HR 9595 IH

1 head of the contracting activity to participate in 

2 the training program. 

3 (H) Inform executive agencies about 

4 streamlined and alternative procurement meth5 ods for procurement of information and com6 munications technology, including— 

7 (i) simplified procedures for certain 

8 commercial products and commercial serv9 ices in accordance with subpart 13.5 of the 

10 Federal Acquisition Regulation, prize com11 petitions under the America COMPETES 

12 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Public Law 

13 111–358), competitive programs that en14 courage businesses to engage in Federal 

15 research or research and development with 

16 the potential for commercialization, and 

17 joint venture partnerships; 

18 (ii) innovative procurement techniques 

19 designed to streamline the procurement 

20 process and lower barriers to entry, such 

21 as use of oral presentations and product 

22 demonstrations instead of lengthy written 

23 proposals, appropriately leveraging per24 formance and outcomes-based contracting, 

25 and other techniques discussed on the 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
8 

•HR 9595 IH

1 Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations 

2 or other similar successor knowledge man3 agement portals; and 

4 (iii) information on appropriate use, 

5 examples and templates, and any other in6 formation determined relevant by the Ad7 ministrator to assist contracting officers 

8 and other members of the acquisition 

9 workforce in using the procedures de10 scribed in clauses (i) and (ii). 

11 (I) Incorporate learning objectives to iden12 tify and mitigate waste, fraud, and abuse and 

13 ensure the protection of established privacy, 

14 civil rights, and civil liberties in the procure15 ment process. 

16 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

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

18 the Federal Acquisition Institute shall provide to the 

19 relevant committees of Congress, the Chief Acquisi20 tion Officers Council, and the Chief Information Of21 ficers Council— 

22 (A) a report on the progress of the Direc23 tor in developing and implementing or otherwise 

24 providing the information and communications 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
9 

•HR 9595 IH

1 technology acquisition training described in 

2 paragraph (1); and 

3 (B) a list of any acquisition training that 

4 the Director determines to be outdated or no 

5 longer necessary. 

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

7 updated as appropriate, but at least every 2 years 

8 after implementation, and offered for a minimum of 

9 6 years following the date of implementation of the 

10 training program. 

11 (c) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND.— 

12 Section 1703(i)(3) of title 41, United States Code, is 

13 amended by striking ‘‘Five percent’’ and inserting ‘‘Seven 

14 and a half percent’’. 

15 (d) HARMONIZATION OF ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

16 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 2 of the Artificial 

17 Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act 

18 (Public Law 117–207; 41 U.S.C. 1703 note) is amend19 ed— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ‘‘DIREC21 TOR.—The term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

22 the Office of Management and Budget.’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Administrator’ 

24 means the Administrator of General Services.’’. 

25 (2) in subsection (b)— 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
10 

•HR 9595 IH

1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Direc2 tor, in coordination with the Administrator of 

3 General Services and any other person deter4 mined relevant by the Director’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘Administrator, in coordination with the Direc6 tor of the Office of Management and Budget’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘Direc8 tor’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’; 

9 (C) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘Direc10 tor’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’; and 

11 (D) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘Direc12 tor’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator’’. 

13 SEC. 4. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS. 

14 (a) INCREASE IN SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESH15 OLD.—Section 134 of title 41, United States Code, is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘$500,000’’. 

18 (b) INCREASE IN MICRO PURCHASE THRESHOLD.— 

19 Section 1902(a)(1) of title 41, United States Code, is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$25,000.’’. 

21 (c) ADVANCES FOR COMMERCIAL TECHNOLOGY SUB22 SCRIPTIONS AND TENANCY.—Section 3324(d) of title 31, 

23 United States Code, is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

25 and inserting a semicolon; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
11 

•HR 9595 IH

1 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (A) by inserting ‘‘or commercially available 

3 content’’ after ‘‘publication’’; and 

4 (B) by striking the period at the end and 

5 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

7 paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(3) charges for information and communica9 tions technology subscriptions, reservations, or ten10 ancy, which means the sharing of computing re11 sources in a private or public environment, including 

12 cloud environments, for which the ordering agency 

13 defines appropriate access and security standards.’’. 

14 SEC. 5. INCREASING COMPETITION IN FEDERAL CON15 TRACTING. 

16 (a) USE OF PAST PERFORMANCE.— 

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

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis19 trator shall issue guidance, including examples and 

20 templates where appropriate, on— 

21 (A) when a wider range of projects, such 

22 as commercial or non-government, as well as 

23 Government projects, should be accepted as rel24 evant past performance, in order to have in25 creased competition among eligible firms with 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
12 

•HR 9595 IH

1 capability to perform a requirement, such as a 

2 requirement without much precedent; 

3 (B) a means by which an agency may vali4 date non-government past performance ref5 erences, such as by requiring an official of an 

6 entity providing past performance references to 

7 attest to their authenticity and by providing 

8 verifiable contact information for the references; 

9 and 

10 (C) use of alternative evaluation methods 

11 other than past performance that may be ap12 propriate for a requirement without much 

13 precedent, such as demonstrations and testing 

14 of technologies as part of the proposal process. 

15 (2) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—The guid16 ance issued under paragraph (1) shall supplement 

17 existing Federal and agency policy and procedures 

18 for consideration of past performance and other 

19 evaluation factors and methods. 

20 (b) ENHANCING COMPETITION IN FEDERAL PRO21 CUREMENT.— 

22 (1) COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later 

23 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act, the Administrator shall convene the Chief Ac25 quisition Officers Council (in this section referred to 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
13 

•HR 9595 IH

1 as the ‘‘Council’’), to make recommendations to 

2 identify and eliminate specific, unnecessary proce3 dural barriers that disproportionately affect the abil4 ity of small businesses to compete for Federal con5 tracts, with a focus on streamlining documentation 

6 and qualification requirements unrelated to the pro7 tection of privacy and civil liberties. 

8 (2) CONSULTATION.—The Council shall obtain 

9 input from the public, including from the APEX Ac10 celerators program (formerly known as Procurement 

11 Technical Assistance Center network) and other con12 tractor representatives, to identify Federal procure13 ment policies and regulations that are obsolete, over14 ly burdensome or restrictive, not adequately har15 monized, or otherwise serve to create barriers to 

16 small business participation in Federal contracting 

17 or unnecessarily increase bid and proposal costs. 

18 (3) EXAMINATION OF ACTIONS.—The Council 

19 shall consider the input obtained under paragraph 

20 (2) and any other information determined to be rel21 evant by the Council to identify legislative, regu22 latory, and other actions to increase competition and 

23 remove barriers to small business participation in 

24 the procurement process. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
14 

•HR 9595 IH

1 (4) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 2 years 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad3 ministrator, in consultation with the Federal Acqui4 sition Regulatory Council, the Chief Acquisition Of5 ficers Council, and other executive agencies as ap6 propriate, shall implement the regulatory and other 

7 non-legislative actions identified under paragraph 

8 (3), as determined necessary by the Administrator, 

9 to remove barriers to entry for small businesses 

10 seeking to participate in Federal Government pro11 curement. 

12 (5) BRIEFING.—Not later than 2 years after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis14 trator shall brief the relevant committees of Con15 gress on the legislative actions identified under para16 graph (3), and the actions implemented under para17 graph (4). 

18 (c) CONSIDERATION OF COST-EFFICIENCY AND

19 QUALITY.—The Administrator shall advocate for and 

20 prioritize contracting policies that ensure that cost-effi21 ciency and quality of goods and services are key deter22 mining factors in awarding Federal contracts. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
15 

•HR 9595 IH

1 SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF SMALL 

2 BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL PRO3 CUREMENT. 

4 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

6 States shall submit to Congress and make publicly avail7 able a report that— 

8 (1) assesses the current level of small business 

9 participation in Federal procurement, identifying 

10 barriers, opportunities, and the impact of existing 

11 policies on the ability of small businesses to compete 

12 in Federal procurement; 

13 (2) catalogs and evaluates the effectiveness of 

14 programs intended to support small business partici15 pation in Federal procurement; and 

16 (3) analyzes trends in small business involve17 ment in Federal technology projects, including data 

18 on contract awards, the diversity of sectors rep19 resented, and the geographic distribution of small 

20 business contractors. 

21 SEC. 7. CONFLICT OF INTEREST PROCEDURES. 

22 The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council and the 

23 Administrator shall update the Federal Acquisition Regu24 lation as necessary to provide additional guidance to exec25 utive agencies to address personal and organizational conVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9595.IH H9595

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
16 

•HR 9595 IH

1 flicts of interest involving members of the acquisition 

2 workforce. 

3 SEC. 8. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING. 

4 No additional funds are authorized to be appro5 priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB