I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2694

To establish a program to transfer surplus computers of Federal agencies 

to schools and nonprofit community-based educational organizations, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 10, 2003

Mr. FERGUSON (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, and Mr. SOUDER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 

A BILL

To establish a program to transfer surplus computers of 

Federal agencies to schools and nonprofit communitybased educational organizations, 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 ‘‘Profiting from Access 

5 to Computer Technology (PACT) Act’’ or the ‘‘Child 

6 PACT Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF EDUCATIONALLY USEFUL FED2 ERAL EQUIPMENT. 

3 Each Federal agency shall, to the extent practicable, 

4 protect and safeguard educationally useful Federal equip5 ment that has been determined to be surplus, so that such 

6 equipment may be transferred under this Act. 

7 SEC. 3. EFFICIENT TRANSFER OF EDUCATIONALLY USEFUL 

8 FEDERAL EQUIPMENT. 

9 (a) TRANSFER OF EQUIPMENT TO GSA.—Each Fed10 eral agency, to the extent permitted by law and where ap11 propriate, shall—

12 (1) identify educationally useful Federal equip13 ment that it no longer needs or such equipment that 

14 has been declared surplus in accordance with section 

15 549 of title 40, United States Code; 

16 (2) erase any hard drive, before transfer under 

17 paragraph (3), in accordance with standards in ef18 fect under the Department of Defense Industrial Se19 curity Program (Directive 5220.22 or successor au20 thority); and 

21 (3)(A) transfer the equipment to the Adminis22 trator of General Services for conveyance to edu23 cational recipients; or 

24 (B) transfer the equipment directly to—
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1 (i) an educational recipient, through an ar2 rangement made by the Administrator of Gen3 eral Services under subsection (b); or 

4 (ii) a nonprofit refurbisher under sub5 section (d). 

6 (b) ADVANCE REPORTING OF EQUIPMENT TO

7 GSA.—Each Federal agency shall report to the Adminis8 trator of General Services the anticipated availability of 

9 educationally useful Federal equipment as far as possible 

10 in advance of the date the equipment is to become surplus, 

11 so that the Administrator may attempt to arrange for the 

12 direct transfer from the donating agency to educational 

13 recipients. 

14 (c) PREFERENCE.—In carrying out conveyances to 

15 educational recipients under this Act, the Administrator 

16 of General Services shall, to the extent practicable, give 

17 particular preference to educational recipients located in 

18 an enterprise community, empowerment zone, or renewal 

19 community designated under section 1391, 1400, or 

20 1400E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

21 (d) REFURBISHMENT OF NON-CLASSROOM-USABLE

22 EQUIPMENT.—At the request of an educational recipient, 

23 educationally useful Federal equipment that is not class24 room-usable shall be conveyed initially to a nonprofit re-
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1 furbisher for upgrade before transfer to the educational 

2 recipient. 

3 (e) LOWEST COST.—All transfers to educational re4 cipients shall be made at the lowest cost to the recipient 

5 permitted by law. 

6 (f) NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF EQUIPMENT.—The 

7 Administrator of General Services shall provide notice of 

8 the anticipated availability of educationally useful Federal 

9 equipment (including non-classroom-usable equipment) to 

10 educational recipients by all practicable means, including 

11 the Internet, newspapers, and community announcements. 

12 (g) FACILITATION BY REGIONAL FEDERAL EXECU13 TIVE BOARDS.—The regional Federal Executive Boards 

14 (as that term is used in part 960 of title 5, Code of Fed15 eral Regulations) shall help facilitate the transfer of edu16 cationally useful Federal equipment from the agencies 

17 they represent to recipients eligible under this Act. 

18 SEC. 4. AGENCY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. 

19 Each Federal agency with employees who have com20 puter expertise shall, to the extent permitted by law and 

21 in accordance with any guidelines prescribed by the Direc22 tor of the Office of Personnel Management, encourage 

23 those employees—

24 (1) to help connect classrooms in schools to the 

25 Nation’s information infrastructure; 
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1 (2) to assist teachers in schools in learning to 

2 use computers to teach; and 

3 (3) to assist in providing ongoing maintenance 

4 of, and technical support for, educationally useful 

5 Federal equipment transferred to educational recipi6 ents under this Act. 

7 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

8 The Administrator of General Services shall prescribe 

9 rules and procedures to carry out this Act. 

10 SEC. 6. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

11 This Act supersedes Executive Order No. 12999 of 

12 April 17, 1996. 

13 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

14 This Act may not be construed to create any right 

15 or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law 

16 by a party against the United States, its agencies, officers, 

17 or employees. 

18 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) The term ‘‘Federal agency’’ means an Exec21 utive department or an Executive agency (as such 

22 terms are defined in chapter 1 of title 5, United 

23 States Code). 
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1 (2) The term ‘‘educational recipient’’ means a 

2 school or a community-based educational organiza3 tion. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘school’’ includes a prekinder5 garten program (as that term is used in the Elemen6 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965), an ele7 mentary school, a secondary school, and a local edu8 cational agency (as those terms are defined in sec9 tion 9101 of that Act). 

10 (4) The term ‘‘community-based educational or11 ganization’’ means a nonprofit entity that—

12 (A) is engaged in collaborative projects 

13 with schools or the primary focus of which is 

14 education; and 

15 (B) qualifies as a nonprofit educational in16 stitution or organization for purposes of section 

17 549(c)(3) of title 40, United States Code. 

18 (5) The term ‘‘educationally useful Federal 

19 equipment’’ means computers and related peripheral 

20 tools (such as computer printers, modems, routers, 

21 and servers), including telecommunications and re22 search equipment, that are appropriate for use by an 

23 educational recipient. The term also includes com24 puter software, where the transfer of a license is 

25 permitted. 
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1 (6) The term ‘‘classroom-usable’’, with respect 

2 to educationally useful Federal equipment, means 

3 such equipment that does not require an upgrade of 

4 hardware or software in order to be used by an edu5 cational recipient without being first transferred 

6 under section 3(d) to a nonprofit refurbisher for 

7 such an upgrade. 

8 (7) The term ‘‘nonprofit refurbisher’’ means an 

9 organization that—

10 (A) is exempt from income taxes under 

11 section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

12 1986; and 

13 (B) upgrades educationally useful Federal 

14 equipment that is not classroom-usable at no 

15 cost or low cost to the ultimate recipient school 

16 or community-based educational organization.

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