H. J. Res. 194

One Hundred Fourth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE SECOND SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,

the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six

Joint Resolution

Granting the consent of the Congress to amendments made by Maryland, Virginia,

and the District of Columbia to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONSENT OF CONGRESS TO AMENDMENTS TO COMPACT.

The Congress consents to the amendments of the State of

Maryland (chapter 252, 1995 Acts of the Maryland General Assembly and chapter 489, 1996 Laws of Maryland), the amendments

of the Commonwealth of Virginia (chapter 150, 1995 Acts of Assembly of Virginia), and the amendments of the District of Columbia

(D.C. Law 11–138) of title III of the Washington Metropolitan

Area Transit Regulation Compact. Such amendments are substantially as follows:

(1) Section 3 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone

‘‘3. There is hereby created the Washington Metropolitan Area

Transit Zone which shall embrace the District of Columbia, the

cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax and the counties

of Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun and political subdivisions of

the Commonwealth of Virginia located within those counties, and

the counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s in the State of

Maryland and political subdivisions of the State of Maryland located

in said counties.’’.

(2) Subsection (a) of section 5 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘(a) The Authority shall be governed by a Board of six Directors

consisting of two Directors for each signatory. For Virginia, the

Directors shall be appointed by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission; for the District of Columbia, by the Council

of the District of Columbia; and for Maryland, by the Washington

Suburban Transit Commission. For Virginia and Maryland, the

Directors shall be appointed from among the members of the

appointing body, except as otherwise provided herein, and shall

serve for a term coincident with their term on the appointing

body. A Director may be removed or suspended from office only

as provided by the law of the signatory from which he was

appointed. The appointing authorities shall also appoint an alternate for each Director, who may act only in the absence of the

Director for whom he has been appointed an alternate, except

that, in the case of the District of Columbia where only one Director

and his alternate are present, such alternate may act on behalf
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of the absent Director. Each alternate shall serve at the

pleasure of the appointing authority. In the event of a vacancy

in the Office of Director or alternate, it shall be filled in the

same manner as an original appointment.’’.

(3) Subsection (a) of section 8 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘(a) Four Directors or alternates consisting of at least one

Director or alternate appointed from each Signatory, shall constitute

a quorum and no action by the Board shall be effective unless

a majority of the Board present and voting, which majority shall

include at least one Director or alternate from each Signatory,

concur therein; provided, however, that a plan of financing may

be adopted or a mass transit plan adopted, altered, revised or

amended by the unanimous vote of the Directors representing any

two Signatories.’’.

(4) Subsection (b) of section 14 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘(b) It shall be the duty and responsibility of each member

of the Board to serve as liaison between the Board and the body

which appointed him to the Board. To provide a framework for

regional participation in the planning process, the Board shall

create technical committees concerned with planning and collection

and analyses of data relative to decision-making in the transportation planning process and the Mayor and Council of the District

of Columbia, the component governments of the Northern Virginia

Transportation District and the Washington Suburban Transit

District shall appoint representatives to such technical committees

and otherwise cooperate with the Board in the formulation of a

mass transit plan, or in revisions, alterations or amendments

thereof.’’.

(5)(A) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended

to read as follows:

‘‘(1) The Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia,

the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the

Washington Suburban Transit Commission;’’.

(B) Paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended

to read as follows:

‘‘(3) the transportation agencies of the signatories;’’.

(C) The last paragraph of section 15 is amended to read as

follows:

‘‘(b) A copy of the proposed mass transit plan, amendment

or revision, shall be kept at the office of the Board and shall

be available for public inspection. Information with respect thereto

shall be released to the public. After thirty days’ notice published

once a week for two successive weeks in one or more newspapers

of general circulation within the zone, a public hearing shall be

held with respect to the proposed plan, alteration, revision or

amendment. The thirty days’ notice shall begin to run on the

first day the notice appears in any such newspaper. The Board

shall consider the evidence submitted and statements and comments

made at such meeting and may make any changes in the proposed

plan, amendment or revision which it deems appropriate and such

changes may be made without further hearing.’’.

(6) Subsection (a) of section 70 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘(a) As soon as practical after the closing of the fiscal year,

an audit shall be made of the financial accounts of the Authority.

The audit shall be made by qualified certified public accountants

selected by the Board, who shall have no personal interest direct

or indirect in the financial affairs of the Authority or any of its
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officers or employees. The report of audit shall be prepared in

accordance with generally accepted auditing principles and shall

be filed with the Chairman and other officers as the Board shall

direct. Copies of the report shall be distributed to each Director,

to the Congress, to the Mayor and Council of the District of

Columbia, to the Governors of Virginia and Maryland, to the

Washington Suburban Transit Commission, to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and to the governing bodies of

the political subdivisions located within the Zone which are parties

to commitments for participation in the financing of the Authority

and shall be made available for public distribution.’’.

(7) Section 73 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘Contracting and Purchasing

‘‘73. (a)(1) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (f)

of this section, and except in the case of procurement procedures

otherwise expressly authorized by statute, the Authority in conducting a procurement of property, services, or construction shall:

‘‘(A) obtain full and open competition through the use of

competitive procedures in accordance with the requirements

of this Section; and

‘‘(B) use the competitive procedure or combination of

competitive procedures that is best suited under the circumstances of the procurement.

‘‘(2) In determining the competitive procedure appropriate

under the circumstances, the Authority shall:

‘‘(A) solicit sealed bids if:

‘‘(i) time permits the solicitation, submission, and

evaluation of sealed bids;

‘‘(ii) the award will be made on the basis of price

and other price-related factors;

‘‘(iii) it is not necessary to conduct discussions with

the responding sources about their bids; and

‘‘(iv) there is a reasonable expectation of receiving more

than one sealed bid; or

‘‘(B) request competitive proposals if sealed bids are not

appropriate under clause (A) of this paragraph.

‘‘(b) The Authority may provide for the procurement of property,

services, or construction covered by this Section using competitive

procedures but excluding a particular source in order to establish

or maintain an alternative source or sources of supply for that

property, service, or construction if the Authority determines that

excluding the source would increase or maintain competition and

would likely result in reduced overall costs for procurement of

property, services, or construction.

‘‘(c) The Authority may use procedures other than competitive

procedures if:

‘‘(1) the property, services, or construction needed by the

Authority is available from only one responsible source and

no other type of property, services, or construction will satisfy

the needs of the Authority; or

‘‘(2) the Authority’s need for the property, services, or

construction is of such an unusual and compelling urgency

that the Authority would be seriously injured unless the

Authority limits the number of sources from which it solicits

bids or proposals; or
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‘‘(3) the Authority determines that it is necessary in the

public interest to use procedures other than competitive procedures in the particular procurement; or

‘‘(4) the property or services can be obtained through federal

or other governmental sources at reasonable prices.

‘‘(d) For the purpose of applying subsection (c)(1) of this section:

‘‘(1) in the case of a contract for property, services, or

construction to be awarded on the basis of acceptance of an

unsolicited proposal, the property, services, or construction shall

be deemed to be available from only one responsible source

if the source has submitted an unsolicited proposal that demonstrates a concept:

‘‘(A) that is unique and innovative or, in the case

of a service, for which the source demonstrates a unique

capability to provide the service; and

‘‘(B) the substance of which is not otherwise available

to the Authority and does not resemble the substance of

a pending competitive procurement.

‘‘(2) in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued

development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment or the continued provision of highly specialized

services, the property, services, or construction may be deemed

to be available from only the original source and may be procured through procedures other than competitive procedures

if it is likely that award to a source other than the original

source would result in:

‘‘(A) substantial duplication of cost to the Authority

that is not expected to be recovered through competition;

or

‘‘(B) unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Authority’s

needs.

‘‘(e) If the Authority uses procedures other than competitive

procedures to procure property, services, or construction under subsection (c)(2) of this section, the Authority shall request offers

from as many potential sources as is practicable under the circumstances.

‘‘(f)(1) To promote efficiency and economy in contracting, the

Authority may use simplified acquisition procedures for purchases

of property, services and construction.

‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, simplified acquisition

procedures may be used for purchases for an amount that does

not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold adopted by the Federal Government.

‘‘(3) A proposed purchase or contract for an amount above

the simplified acquisition threshold may not be divided into several

purchases or contracts for lesser amounts in order to use the procedures under paragraph (1) of this subsection.

‘‘(4) In using simplified acquisition procedures, the Authority

shall promote competition to the maximum extent practicable.

‘‘(g) The Board shall adopt policies and procedures to implement

this Section. The policies and procedures shall provide for publication of notice of procurements and other actions designed to secure

competition where competitive procedures are used.

‘‘(h) The Authority in its discretion may reject any and all

bids or proposals received in response to a solicitation.’’.

(8) Section 81 is amended to read as follows:
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‘‘Jurisdiction of Courts

‘‘81. The United States District Courts shall have original

jurisdiction, concurrent with the Courts of Maryland, Virginia and

the District of Columbia, of all actions brought by or against the

Authority and to enforce subpoenas issued under this Title. Any

such action initiated in a State or District of Columbia Court

shall be removable to the appropriate United States District Court

in the manner provided by Act of June 25, 1948, as amended

(28 U.S.C. 1446).’’.

(9) Section 84 is amended to read as follows:

‘‘Amendments and Supplements

‘‘84. Amendments and supplements to this Title to implement

the purposes thereof may be adopted by legislative action of any

of the signatory parties concurred in by all of the others. When

one signatory adopts an amendment or supplement to an existing

section of the Compact. that amendment shall not be immediately

effective, and the previously enacted provision(s) shall remain in

effect in each jurisdiction until the amendment or supplement is

approved by the other signatories and is consented to by Congress.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.