II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2779

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 24, 1996

Received

JULY 29, 1996

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation

AN ACT

To provide for appropriate implementation of the Metric

Conversion Act of 1975 in Federal construction projects,

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Savings in Construc3 tion Act of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds the following:

6 (1) The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 was en7 acted in order to set forth the policy of the United

8 States to convert to the metric system. Section 3 of

9 that Act requires that each Federal agency use the

10 metric system of measurement in its procurements,

11 grants and other business related activities, unless

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

13 markets to United States firms, such as when for14 eign competitors are producing competing products

15 in non-metric units.

16 (2) Currently, many Federal agencies are re17 quiring as a condition of obtaining Federal construc18 tion contracts that all bidders must agree to use

19 products measured in round metric units, materials

20 which are known as ‘‘hard-metric’’ products. This

21 can require retooling, substantial capitalization

22 costs, and other expensive production changes for

23 some suppliers to physically change the size of the

24 product.

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

26 has sometimes been imposed without appropriate re-
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1 gard to whether that method is impractical or likely

2 to cause significant costs or a loss of markets to

3 United States firms.

4 (4) Some United States businesses that manu5 facture basic construction products suffer harm by

6 being forced to convert to hard-metric production, or

7 by being foreclosed from effectively bidding on Fed8 eral or federally assisted projects.

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

10 may place domestic producers at a competitive dis11 advantage with respect to foreign producers; may re12 duce the number of companies that may compete for

13 contracts with the Federal Government; and may

14 force manufacturers to maintain double inventories

15 of similar but incompatible products.

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

17 has unnecessarily raised the cost to the Government

18 of some lighting and concrete masonry products and

19 there is consensus that relief is in order.

20 (7) While the Metric Conversion Act of 1975

21 currently provides an exception to metric usage

22 when impractical or when it will cause economic in23 efficiencies, there is need for ombudsmen and proce24 dures to ensure the effective implementation of the

25 exceptions.
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1 (8) The changes made by this Act will advance

2 the goals of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 while

3 eliminating significant problems in its implementa4 tion.

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

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

7 U.S.C. 205c) is amended—

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

9 (4) as paragraphs (3), (6), and (7), respectively;

10 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the follow11 ing new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(2) ‘converted product’ means a material or

13 product that is produced as a result of a hard-metric

14 conversion;’’;

15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the follow16 ing new paragraphs:

17 ‘‘(4) ‘hard-metric’ means measurement, design,

18 and manufacture using the metric system of meas19 urement, but does not include measurement, design,

20 and manufacture using English system measurement

21 units which are subsequently reexpressed in the met22 ric system of measurement;

23 ‘‘(5) ‘hard-metric conversion’ means a conver24 sion that requires, in addition to the expression of

25 the linear dimensions of a product under the metric
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1 system of measurement, a physical change in the

2 size of that product relative to the size of that prod3 uct established under the system of English meas4 urements in production practices of the appropriate

5 industry;’’;

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

7 (6), as so redesignated by paragraph (1) of this sec8 tion;

9 (5) by striking the period at the end of para10 graph (7), as so redesignated by paragraph (1) of

11 this section, and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; and’’;

12 and

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

14 paragraph:

15 ‘‘(8) ‘small business’ has the meaning given the

16 term ‘small business concern’ in section 3 of the

17 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).’’.

18 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION EXCEPTIONS.

19 The Metric Conversion Act of 1975 (15 U.S.C. 205a

20 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 11 the fol21 lowing new section:

22 ‘‘SEC. 12. (a) In carrying out the policy set forth in

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

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

25 require that specifications for structures or systems of
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1 concrete masonry be expressed under the metric system

2 of measurement, but may not require that concrete ma3 sonry units be converted products.

4 ‘‘(b) In carrying out the policy set forth in section

5 3 (with particular emphasis on the policy set forth in para6 graph (2) of that section) a Federal agency may not re7 quire that lighting fixtures be converted products unless

8 the predominant voluntary industry consensus standards

9 are hard-metric.’’.

10 SEC. 5. OMBUDSMAN.

11 Section 12 of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, as

12 added by section 4 of this Act, is further amended by add13 ing at the end the following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(c)(1) The head of each executive agency that

15 awards construction contracts shall designate a senior

16 agency official to serve as a construction metrication om17 budsman who shall be responsible for reviewing and re18 sponding to complaints from prospective bidders, sub19 contractors, suppliers, or their designated representatives

20 related to—

21 ‘‘(A) guidance or regulations issued by the

22 agency on the use of the metric system of measure23 ment in construction contracts; and
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1 ‘‘(B) the use of the metric system of measure2 ment for products or materials required for incorpo3 ration in individual construction projects.

4 The construction metrication ombudsman shall be inde5 pendent of the contracting officer for construction con6 tracts.

7 ‘‘(2) The ombudsman shall be responsible for ensur8 ing that the agency is not implementing the metric system

9 of measurement in a manner that is impractical or is likely

10 to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to

11 United States firms in violation of the policy stated in sec12 tion 3(2), or is otherwise inconsistent with guidance issued

13 by the Secretary of Commerce in consultation with the

14 Interagency Council on Metric Policy.

15 ‘‘(3) The ombudsman shall respond to each complaint

16 in writing within 30 days and make a recommendation to

17 the head of the executive agency for an appropriate resolu18 tion thereto. In such a recommendation, the ombudsman

19 shall consider—

20 ‘‘(A) the availability of converted products and

21 hard metric production capacity of United States

22 firms, or lack thereof;

23 ‘‘(B) retooling costs and capital investment im24 pacts;

25 ‘‘(C) the impact on small business;
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1 ‘‘(D) the impact on trade;

2 ‘‘(E) the impact on competition for Federal

3 contracts;

4 ‘‘(F) the impact on jobs;

5 ‘‘(G) the impact on the competitiveness of Unit6 ed States firms; and

7 ‘‘(H) the cost to the Federal Government.

8 ‘‘(4) After the head of the agency has rendered a de9 cision regarding a recommendation of the ombudsman, the

10 ombudsman shall be responsible for communicating the

11 decision to all appropriate policy, design, planning, pro12 curement, and notifying personnel in the agency. The om13 budsman shall conduct appropriate monitoring as required

14 to ensure the decision is implemented, and may submit

15 further recommendations, as needed. The head of the

16 agency’s decision on the ombudsman’s recommendations,

17 and any supporting documentation, shall be provided to

18 affected parties and made available to the public in a time19 ly manner.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives July 23, 1996.

Attest: ROBIN H. CARLE,

Clerk.