I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2779

To provide for soft-metric conversion, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 14, 1995

Mr. COX of California (for himself, Mr. HEFNER, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr.

FORBES, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. JONES, Mr. LATHAM, Mr.

LINDER, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. TAYLOR

of North Carolina, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Science

A BILL

To provide for soft-metric conversion, 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 ‘‘Savings in Construc5 tion Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 was en9 acted in order to set forth the policy of the United

10 States to convert to the metric system. Section 3 of
2

HR 2779 IH

1 that Act requires that each Federal agency use the

2 metric system of measurement in its procurements,

3 grants and other business related activities, unless

4 that use is likely to cause significant cost or loss of

5 markets to United States firms, such as when for6 eign competitors are producing competing products

7 in non-metric units.

8 (2) Currently, many Federal construction con9 tracting officers are requiring as a condition of ob10 taining Federal contracts that all bidders must agree

11 to use products measured in round metric units, ma12 terials which are known as ‘‘hard-metric’’ products.

13 This requires retooling, substantial capitalization

14 costs, and other expensive production changes for

15 most construction firms and suppliers to physically

16 change the size of the product.

17 (3) This ‘‘hard-metric’’ conversion requirement

18 is often being imposed only for the purpose of

19 achieving rounded numbers, and without regard to

20 whether that method is impractical or likely to cause

21 significant costs or a loss of markets to United

22 States firms.

23 (4) United States businesses that manufacture

24 basic construction products suffer great upheaval by

25 being forced to either convert to hard-metric produc-
3

HR 2779 IH

1 tion, or be foreclosed from effectively bidding on

2 Federal or federally assisted projects.

3 (5) This ‘‘hard-metric’’ conversion requirement

4 places domestic producers at a competitive disadvan5 tage with respect to foreign producers; reduces the

6 number of companies that may compete for con7 tracts with the Federal Government; and forces

8 manufacturers to maintain double inventories of

9 similar but incompatible products.

10 (6) This ‘‘hard-metric’’ conversion requirement

11 raises the cost to taxpayers of Federal construction

12 projects, since the Federal Government is often re13 quired to pay additional costs, known as a ‘‘metric

14 premium,’’ to procure hard-metric products.

15 (7) ‘‘Soft-metric’’ conversion would be a less

16 costly and less intrusive way of meeting the goals of

17 Section 3 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975. The

18 product itself would remain the same size; its dimen19 sions simply would be expressed in metric units.

20 (8) As the application of the soft-metric conver21 sion mandates no change in the size of the product,

22 the goals of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 will

23 be achieved without excessive economic upheaval.
4

HR 2779 IH

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 Section 4 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15

3 U.S.C. 205c) is amended—

4 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and

5 (4) as paragraphs (3), (6), and (8), respectively;

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the follow7 ing new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(2) ‘domestic manufacturer’ means a manufac9 turer at least 51 percent of whose production occurs

10 in the United States;’’;

11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3), as so re12 designated by paragraph (1) of this section, the fol13 lowing new paragraphs:

14 ‘‘(4) ‘hard-metric product’ means a material or

15 product that is—

16 ‘‘(A) produced as a result of a hard-metric

17 conversion; or

18 ‘‘(B) identical to a material or product de19 scribed in subparagraph (A), although originally

20 produced in metric-based dimensions;

21 ‘‘(5) ‘hard-metric conversion’ means a conver22 sion that requires, in addition to the expression of

23 the dimensions of a product under the metric system

24 of measurement, a physical change in the size of

25 that product relative to the size of that product es-
5

HR 2779 IH

1 tablished under existing production practices of the

2 appropriate industry;’’;

3 (4) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

4 (6), as so redesignated by paragraph (1) of this sec5 tion;

6 (5) by inserting after paragraph (6), as so re7 designated by paragraph (1) of this section, the fol8 lowing new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(7) ‘industry’ has the meaning provided that

10 term by the Board by regulation;’’;

11 (6) by striking the period at the end of para12 graph (8), as so redesignated by paragraph (1) of

13 this section, and inserting in lieu thereof a semi14 colon; and

15 (7) by adding at the end the following new

16 paragraphs:

17 ‘‘(9) ‘soft-metric product’ means a material or

18 product that is produced as a result of a soft-metric

19 conversion;

20 ‘‘(10) ‘soft-metric conversion’ means a conver21 sion that requires the expression of the dimensions

22 of a product under the metric system of measure23 ment without changing the physical size of the prod24 uct relative to the size of that product established
6

HR 2779 IH

1 under existing production practices of the appro2 priate industry; and

3 ‘‘(11) ‘small business’ means a business that

4 would be a small business under the Standard In5 dustrial Classification codes and size standards in

6 section 121.601 of title 13 of the Code of Federal

7 Regulations as in effect on the date of the enact8 ment of this paragraph.’’.

9 SEC. 4. METRIC CONVERSION.

10 Section 12 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15

11 U.S.C. 205j–1) is amended by striking subsection (b) and

12 inserting in lieu thereof the following new subsections:

13 ‘‘(b) No agency of the Federal Government may de14 velop, implement, or continue the use of construction de15 sign or procurement guidelines that require the use of a

16 hard-metric product if a majority of the contracts that

17 would be proposed pursuant to such guidelines would be

18 likely to result in a certification described in subsection

19 (c)(3)(A).

20 ‘‘(c) No agency of the Federal Government may es21 tablish or apply a bidding requirement or preference with

22 respect to any federally assisted construction contract that

23 specifies the use of a hard-metric product if—

24 ‘‘(1) the use of soft-metric product is techno25 logically feasible; and
7

HR 2779 IH

1 ‘‘(2) an appropriate representative (as selected

2 pursuant to subsection (d) of the industry that man3 ufactures the product) notifies the agency, within 30

4 days after enactment of this Act, that the represent5 ative makes certification or intends to make certifi6 cation under paragraph (3)(A); and either—

7 ‘‘(3) the certification establishes or will estab8 lish that—

9 ‘‘(A) such industry-specific or product-spe10 cific factors exist that—

11 ‘‘(i)(I) the product is not readily avail12 able as a hard-metric product from 50 per13 cent or more of the domestic manufactur14 ers in the United States; or

15 ‘‘(II) a hard-metric product does not

16 constitute 50 percent or more of the total

17 production of that product by that indus18 try;

19 ‘‘(ii) a hard-metric conversion would

20 require domestic manufacturers that are

21 small businesses that produce the product

22 to incur capital outlays in an average

23 amount greater than $25,000 per manu24 facturer to invest in new equipment to

25 produce a hard-metric product; and
8

HR 2779 IH

1 ‘‘(iii)(I) based on the economic situa2 tion and customs of the industry, any po3 tential offsetting benefits that could be

4 achieved by that industry by carrying out

5 a hard metric conversion to produce that

6 product would be negligible or

7 ‘‘(II) hard metric conversion would

8 substantially reduce competition for Fed9 eral contracts and increase by 1 percent or

10 more the per unit cost of that product; or

11 ‘‘(III) hard metric conversion would

12 create a special hardship with respect to

13 domestic manufacturers that are small

14 businesses by placing those manufacturers

15 at a competitive disadvantage with respect

16 to foreign competitors; or

17 ‘‘(4) less that 180 days have elapsed after the

18 appropriate representative has been notified of a

19 proposed contract specifying hard-metric product.

20 ‘‘(d) The head of each agency of the Federal Govern21 ment shall establish a list of appropriate representatives

22 of each industry that may make a certification under sub23 section (c)(3)(A). The agency head shall update that list

24 on an annual basis. The list shall include appropriate pro-
9

HR 2779 IH

1 fessional or trade associations that are recognized as rep2 resenting the industries.

3 ‘‘(e) When an appropriate representative submits a

4 certification under subsection (c)(3)(A), the representative

5 shall also submit a list of domestic manufacturers that

6 have the capability to manufacture the product that is the

7 subject of the certification as a soft-metric product.’’.

Æ