H. R. 2779

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

An Act

To provide for appropriate implementation of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975

in Federal construction projects, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Savings in Construction Act

of 1996’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 was enacted in

order to set forth the policy of the United States to convert

to the metric system. Section 3 of that Act requires that each

Federal agency use the metric system of measurements in

its procurement, grants, and other business-related activities,

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

markets to United States firms, such as when foreign competitors are producing competing products in non-metric units.

(2) In accordance with that Act and Executive Order 12770,

of July 25, 1991, Federal agencies increasingly construct new

Federal buildings in round metric dimensions. As a result,

companies that wish to bid on Federal construction projects

increasingly are asked to supply materials or products in round

metric dimensions.

(3) While the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 currently

provides an exemption to metric usage when impractical or

when such usage will cause economic inefficiencies, amendments are warranted to ensure that the use of specific metric

components in metric construction projects do not increase the

cost of Federal buildings to the taxpayers.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

Section 4 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 U.S.C.

205c) is amended—

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

(2) by striking ‘‘Commerce.’’ in paragraph (4) and inserting

‘‘Commerce;’’; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:

‘‘(5) ‘full and open competition’ has the same meaning as

defined in section 403(6) of title 41, United States Code;

‘‘(6) ‘total installed price’ means the price of purchasing

a product or material, trimming or otherwise altering some

or all of that product or material, if necessary to fit with
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other building components, and then installing that product

or material into a Federal facility;

‘‘(7) ‘hard-metric’ means measurement, design, and manufacture using the metric system of measurement, but does

not include measurement, design, and manufacture using English system measurement units which are subsequently reexpressed in the metric system of measurement;

‘‘(8) ‘cost or pricing data or price analysis’ has the meaning

given such terms in section 304A of the Federal Property and

Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 254b); and

‘‘(9) ‘Federal facility’ means any public building (as defined

under section 13 of the Public Buildings Act of 1959 (40 U.S.C.

612) and shall include any Federal building or construction

project—

‘‘(A) on lands in the public domain;

‘‘(B) on lands used in connection with Federal programs

for agriculture research, recreation, and conservation programs;

‘‘(C) on or used in connection with river, harbor, flood

control, reclamation, or power projects;

‘‘(D) on or used in connection with housing and residential projects;

‘‘(E) on military installations (including any fort, camp,

post, naval training station, airfield, proving ground, military supply depot, military school, or any similar facility

of the Department of Defense);

‘‘(F) on installations of the Department of Veteran

Affairs used for hospital or domiciliary purposes; or

‘‘(G) on lands used in connection with Federal prisons,

but does not include (i) any Federal building or construction

project the exclusion of which the President deems to be justified in the public interest, or (ii) any construction project or

building owned or controlled by a State government, local

government, Indian tribe, or any private entity.’’.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION IN ACQUISITION OF FEDERAL FACILITIES.

(a) The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 U.S.C. 205 et seq.)

is amended by inserting after section 13 the following new section:

‘‘SEC. 14. IMPLEMENTATION IN ACQUISITION OF CONSTRUCTION

SERVICES AND MATERIALS FOR FEDERAL FACILITIES.

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Construction services and materials for Federal facilities shall be procured in accordance with the policies

and procedures set forth in chapter 137 of title 10, United States

Code, section 2377 of title 10, United States Code, title III of

the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41

U.S.C. 251 et seq.), and section 3(2) of this Act. Determination

of a design method shall be based upon preliminary market research

as required under section 2377(c) of title 10, United States Code,

and section 314B(c) of the Federal Property and Administrative

Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 264b(c)). If the requirements of

this Act conflict with the provisions of section 2377 of title 10,

United States Code, or section 314B of the Federal Property and

Administrative Services Act of 1949, then the provisions of 2377

or 314B shall take precedence.

‘‘(b) CONCRETE MASONRY UNITS.—In carrying out the policy

set forth in section 3 (with particular emphasis on the policy set

forth in paragraph (2) of that section) a Federal agency may require
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that specifications for the acquisition of structures or systems of

concrete masonry be expressed under the metric system of measurement, but may not incorporate specifications, that can only be

satisfied by hard-metric versions of concrete masonry units, in

a solicitation for design or construction of a Federal facility within

the United States or its territories, or a portion of said Federal

facility, unless the head of the agency determines in writing that—

‘‘(1) hard-metric specifications are necessary in a contract

for the repair or replacement of parts of Federal facilities

in existence or under construction upon the effective date of

the Savings in Construction Act of 1996; or

‘‘(2) the following 2 criteria are met:

‘‘(A) the application requires hard-metric concrete

masonry units to coordinate dimensionally into 100 millimeter building modules; and

‘‘(B) the total installed price of hard-metric concrete

masonry units is estimated to be equal to or less than

the total installed price of using non-hard-metric concrete

masonry units. Total installed price estimates shall be

based, to the extent available, on cost or pricing data

or price analysis, using actual hard-metric and non-hardmetric offers received for comparable existing projects. The

head of the agency shall include in the writing required

in this subsection an explanation of the factors used to

develop the price estimates.

‘‘(c) RECESSED LIGHTING FIXTURES.—In carrying out the policy

set forth in section 3 (with particular emphasis on the policy set

forth in paragraph (2) of that section) a Federal agency may require

that specifications for the acquisition of structures or systems of

recessed lighting fixtures be expressed under the metric system

of measurement, but may not incorporate specifications, that can

only be satisfied by hard-metric versions of recessed lighting fixtures, in a solicitation for design or construction of a Federal facility

within the United States or its territories unless the head of the

agency determines in writing that—

‘‘(1) the predominant voluntary industry consensus

standards include the use of hard-metric for the items

specified; or

‘‘(2) hard-metric specifications are necessary in a contract

for the repair or replacement of parts of Federal facilities

in existence or under construction upon the effective date of

the Savings in Construction Act of 1996; or

‘‘(3) the following 2 criteria are met:

‘‘(A) the application requires hard-metric recessed

lighting fixtures to coordinate dimensionally into 100 millimeter building modules; and

‘‘(B) the total installed price of hard-metric recessed

lighting fixtures is estimated to be equal to or less than

the total installed price of using non-hard-metric recessed

lighting fixtures. Total installed price estimates shall be

based, to the extent available, on cost or pricing data

or price analysis, using actual hard-metric and non-hardmetric offers received for comparable existing projects. The

head of the agency shall include in the writing required

in this subsection an explanation of the factors used to

develop the price estimates.
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‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—The provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of

this section shall not apply to Federal contracts to acquire construction products for the construction of facilities outside of the United

States and its territories.

‘‘(e) EXPIRATION.—The provisions contained in subsections (b)

and (c) of this section shall expire 10 years from the effective

date of the Savings in Construction Act of 1996.’’.

SEC. 5. OMBUDSMAN.

Section 14 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, as added

by section 4 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the

end the following new subsection:

‘‘(f) AGENCY OMBUDSMAN.—(1) The head of each executive

agency that awards construction contracts within the United States

and its territories shall designate a senior agency official to serve

as a construction metrication ombudsman who shall be responsible

for reviewing and responding to complaints from prospective bidders, subcontractors, suppliers, or their designated representatives

related to—

‘‘(A) guidance or regulations issued by the agency on the

use of the metric system of measurement in contracts for the

construction of Federal buildings; and

‘‘(B) the use of the metric system of measurement for

services and materials required for incorporation in individual

projects to construct Federal buildings.

The construction metrication ombudsman shall be independent of

the contracting officer for construction contracts.

‘‘(2) The ombudsman shall be responsible for ensuring that

the agency is not implementing the metric system of measurement

in a manner that is impractical or is likely to cause significant

inefficiencies or loss of markets to United States firms in violation

of the policy stated in section 3(2), or is otherwise inconsistent

with guidance issued by the Secretary of Commerce in consultation

with the Interagency Council on Metric Policy while ensuring that

the goals of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 are observed.

‘‘(3) The ombudsman shall respond to each complaint in writing

within 60 days and make a recommendation to the head of the

executive agency for an appropriate resolution thereto. In such

a recommendation, the ombudsman shall consider—

‘‘(A) whether the agency is adequately applying the policies

and procedures in this section;

‘‘(B) whether the availability of hard-metric products and

services from United States firms is sufficient to ensure full

and open competition; and

‘‘(C) the total installed price to the Federal Government.

‘‘(4) After the head of the agency has rendered a decision

regarding a recommendation of the ombudsman, the ombudsman

shall be responsible for communicating the decision to all appropriate policy, design, planning, procurement, and notifying personnel in the agency. The ombudsman shall conduct appropriate monitoring as required to ensure the decision is implemented, and

may submit further recommendations, as needed. The head of the

agency’s decision on the ombudsman’s recommendations, and any

supporting documentation, shall be provided to affected parties

and made available to the public in a timely manner.
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‘‘(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede

the bid protest process established under subchapter V of chapter

35 of title 31, United States Code.’’.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

(a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act and the amendments made

by this Act shall take effect 90 days after the date of enactment

of this Act.

(b) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.—This Act shall not apply to contracts

awarded and solicitations issued on or before the effective date

of this Act, unless the head of a Federal agency makes a written

determination in his or her sole discretion that it would be in

the public interest to apply one or more provisions of this Act

or its amendments to these existing contracts or solicitations.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.