II 

Calendar No. 679 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4066 

[Report No. 118–276] 

To improve Federal technology procurement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2024 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. CRUZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

DECEMBER 9, 2024 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To improve Federal technology procurement, 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 ‘‘Federal Improvement 

5 in Technology Procurement Act’’ or the ‘‘FIT Procure6 ment Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The Government Accountability Office 

4 (GAO) has conducted a trend analysis of Govern5 ment-wide contracting for each of the last several 

6 fiscal years. These analyses show that the Federal 

7 dollars obligated through contracts has been steadily 

8 increasing. 

9 (2) Contract spending accounts for more than 

10 80 percent of the Federal information technology 

11 budget. 

12 (3) Spending on information security, software, 

13 cloud computing, data center solutions and services, 

14 software as a service, and artificial intelligence tech15 nologies is projected to grow significantly. 

16 (4) Rapid technological developments and in17 creased Government demand create a need for a 

18 Federal acquisition workforce with an understanding 

19 of technology and related procurement consider20 ations. 

21 (5) Federal agencies are challenged to shorten 

22 the procurement cycle to meet agency technology re23 quirements. Technology acquired through procure24 ments that take years from requirements develop25 ment to implementation may be obsolete by the time 

26 it is fielded. 


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1 (6) While Federal contracting dollars are in2 creasing year over year, and the number of new 

3 business applications filed is at an all-time high, the 

4 number of Federal contractors receiving contract 

5 awards is shrinking. This trend could impair the 

6 Federal Government’s access to innovative commer7 cial technologies. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—The term ‘‘ac11 quisition workforce’’ means employees of an execu12 tive agency who are responsible for procurement, 

13 contracting, program or project management that 

14 involves the performance of acquisition-related func15 tions, or others as designated by the Chief Acquisi16 tion Officer, senior procurement executive, or head 

17 of the contracting activity. 

18 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Pro20 curement Policy. 

21 (3) CROSS-FUNCTIONAL.—The term ‘‘cross22 functional’’ means a structure in which individuals 

23 with different functional expertise or from different 

24 areas of an organization work together as a team. 


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1 (4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

4 (5) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—The term ‘‘ex5 periential learning’’ means on-the-job experiences or 

6 simulations that serve to enhance workforce profes7 sional skills. 

8 (6) INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

9 TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘information and commu10 nications technology’’— 

11 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec12 tion 4713 of title 41, United States Code; and 

13 (B) includes information and communica14 tions technologies covered by definitions con15 tained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, 

16 including definitions added after the date of the 

17 enactment of this Act by the Federal Acquisi18 tion Regulatory Council pursuant to notice and 

19 comment. 

20 (7) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.— 

21 The term ‘‘relevant committees of Congress’’ means 

22 the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern23 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

24 Oversight and Accountability of the House of Rep25 resentatives. 


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1 SEC. 4. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. 

2 (a) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—Not later than 18 

3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

4 Federal Acquisition Institute shall incorporate experiential 

5 learning into the Federal Credentials Program, the Fed6 eral Acquisition Certification-Contracting Officer’s Rep7 resentative (FAC-COR) Program, and the Federal Acqui8 sition Certification for Program and Project Managers 

9 (FAC-P/PM) Program, or any successor programs. 

10 (b) TRAINING ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICA11 TIONS TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed14 eral Acquisition Institute, in coordination with the 

15 Administrator, the Administrator of General Serv16 ices, the Federal Chief Information Officer, the 

17 Chief Information Officers Council, and the United 

18 States Digital Service, and in consultation with oth19 ers as determined to be appropriate by the Director 

20 of the Federal Acquisition Institute, shall develop 

21 and implement or otherwise provide a cross-func22 tional information and communications technology 

23 acquisition training program for acquisition work24 force members involved in acquiring information and 

25 communications technology. The training shall— 


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1 (A) include learning objectives related to 

2 market research, communicating with industry 

3 and industry perspectives on the procurement 

4 process, including how investment decisions are 

5 impacted by Government communication and 

6 engagement, developing requirements, acquisi7 tion planning, best practices for developing and 

8 executing outcome-based contracts, and source 

9 selection strategy, evaluating proposals, and 

10 awarding and administering contracts for infor11 mation and communications technology; 

12 (B) include learning objectives that provide 

13 a basic understanding of key technologies Fed14 eral agencies need, such as cloud computing, ar15 tificial intelligence and artificial intelligence-en16 abled applications, and cybersecurity solutions; 

17 (C) include learning objectives that encour18 age the use of commercial or commercially 

19 available off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies to 

20 the greatest extent practicable; 

21 (D) include case studies of lessons learned 

22 from Federal information and communications 

23 technology procurements and contracts, and re24 lated matters as deemed relevant by the Direc25 tor of the Federal Acquisition Institute; 


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1 (E) include experiential learning opportu2 nities, and opportunities to practice acquisition 

3 teaming involving collaboration of team mem4 bers with varied relevant domain expertise to 

5 complete acquisition-related tasks, including 

6 tasks with accelerated timelines; 

7 (F) include continuous learning rec8 ommendations and resources to keep the skills 

9 of acquisition workforce members current, in10 cluding tools that help adopt or adapt the use 

11 of innovative acquisition practices or other flexi12 ble business practices commonly used in com13 mercial buys; 

14 (G) be made available to acquisition work15 force members designated by a Chief Acquisi16 tion Officer, senior procurement executive, or 

17 head of the contracting activity to participate in 

18 the training program; and 

19 (H) inform executive agencies about 

20 streamlined and alternative procurement meth21 ods for procurement of information and com22 munications technology, including— 

23 (i) simplified procedures for certain 

24 commercial products and commercial serv25 ices in accordance with subpart 13.5 of the 


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1 Federal Acquisition Regulation, prize com2 petitions under the America COMPETES 

3 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Public Law 

4 111–358), commercial solutions opening 

5 authorities as provided in section 5 of this 

6 Act or under separate authority, competi7 tive programs that encourage businesses to 

8 engage in Federal research or research and 

9 development with the potential for com10 mercialization, and joint venture partner11 ships; 

12 (ii) innovative procurement techniques 

13 designed to streamline the procurement 

14 process and lower barriers to entry, such 

15 as use of oral presentations and product 

16 demonstrations instead of lengthy written 

17 proposals, appropriately leveraging per18 formance and outcomes-based contracting, 

19 and other techniques discussed on the 

20 Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations 

21 or other similar successor knowledge man22 agement portals; and 

23 (iii) information on appropriate use, 

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1 ministrator to assist contracting officers 

2 and other members of the acquisition 

3 workforce in using the procedures de4 scribed in clauses (i) and (ii). 

5 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of 

7 the Federal Acquisition Institute shall provide to the 

8 relevant committees of Congress, the Chief Acquisi9 tion Officers Council, and the Chief Information Of10 ficers Council— 

11 (A) a report on the Director’s progress in 

12 developing and implementing or otherwise pro13 viding the information and communications 

14 technology acquisition training described in 

15 paragraph (1); and 

16 (B) a list of any congressionally mandated 

17 acquisition training that the Director deter18 mines to be outdated or no longer necessary for 

19 other reasons. 

20 (3) DURATION.—The training program shall be 

21 updated as appropriate as technology advances, but 

22 at least every 2 years after implementation, and of23 fered for a minimum of 7 years following the date 

24 of implementation of the training program. 

25 (c) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND.— 


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1 (1) FINDING.—Congress finds that the Acquisi2 tion Workforce Training Fund should be utilized in 

3 order to ensure that the Federal acquisition work4 force— 

5 (A) continues to adapt to fundamental 

6 changes in Federal Government acquisition of 

7 property and services; and 

8 (B) acquires new skills and knowledge to 

9 enable it to contribute effectively in the chang10 ing environment of the 21st century. 

11 (2) INCREASED CREDITS TO FUND.—Section 

12 1703(i)(3) of title 41, United States Code, is amend13 ed by striking ‘‘Five percent’’ and inserting ‘‘Seven 

14 and a half percent’’. 

15 (d) HARMONIZATION OF ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

16 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.—The responsibility for the re17 quirement in subsection (b)(1) of section 2 of the AI 

18 Training Act (Public Law 117–207; 41 U.S.C. 1703 note) 

19 is reassigned from the Director of the Office of Manage20 ment and Budget to the Administrator of General Serv21 ices. 

22 SEC. 5. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS. 

23 (a) EXPANSION OF COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS OPEN24 ING AUTHORITY.—Section 880 of the National Defense 


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1 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114– 

2 328; 41 U.S.C. 3301 note) is amended— 

3 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘PILOT

4 PROGRAMS FOR AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE IN5 NOVATIVE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS’’ and insert6 ing ‘‘PROGRAMS FOR AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE

7 INNOVATIVE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND

8 COMMERCIAL SERVICES’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 

11 commercial services’’ after ‘‘commercial prod12 ucts’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 

14 the following new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(C) The head of an executive agency ap16 proved for the program, on a temporary or per17 manent basis, by the Director of the Office of 

18 Management and Budget.’’; and 

19 (C) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 

20 the following new subparagraph: 

21 ‘‘(C) An executive agency approved for the 

22 program by the Director of the Office of Man23 agement and Budget.’’; 

24 (3) by amending subsection (d) to read as fol25 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(d) GUIDANCE.—The head of an agency shall issue 

2 guidance for the implementation of the program under 

3 this section within that agency. Such guidance shall be 

4 issued in consultation with the Office of Management and 

5 Budget and shall be posted for access by the public. The 

6 guidance shall also include requirements for each general 

7 solicitation to be posted publicly through a means that 

8 provides access to the notice of general solicitation 

9 through the System for Award Management or subsequent 

10 Government-wide point of entry, with classified solicita11 tions posted to the appropriate Government portal.’’; 

12 (4) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol13 lows: 

14 ‘‘(e) REPORTING AND DATA COLLECTION.—The 

15 head of an agency shall report information on contracts 

16 made using procedures under this section to the Office of 

17 Management and Budget as determined by the Director 

18 of the Office of Management and Budget. The Adminis19 trator for Federal Procurement Policy shall collect and 

20 analyze data on the use of the authority under this section 

21 for the purposes of— 

22 ‘‘(1) developing and sharing best practices; 

23 ‘‘(2) gathering information on the implementa24 tion of the authority and related policy issues; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) informing the Committee on Homeland Se2 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 

3 the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of 

4 the House of Representatives on the use of the au5 thority.’’; 

6 (5) in subsection (f)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘; 

8 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

9 (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 

10 paragraph (3); and 

11 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

12 following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(2) the term ‘executive agency’ has the mean14 ing given the term in section 133 of title 41, United 

15 States Code; and’’; 

16 (6) by striking subsection (g); and 

17 (7) by striking ‘‘pilot’’ each place it appears. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

19 in section 2(b) of such Act and the table of contents pre20 ceding subtitle A of title VIII of such Act are each amend21 ed by striking the item relating to section 880 and insert22 ing the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 880. Programs for authority to acquire innovative commercial products, 

commercial technologies, and commercial services using general 

solicitation competitive procedures.’’. 

23 (c) INCREASE IN SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESH24 OLD.— 


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1 (1) FINDING.—Congress finds that the thresh2 old under which agencies may use simplified acquisi3 tion procedures to reduce costs, improve opportuni4 ties for qualified businesses, promote efficiency and 

5 economy, and avoid unnecessary burdens for agen6 cies and their contractors should be updated. 

7 (2) AMENDMENT.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 134 of title 41, 

9 United States Code, is amended by striking 

10 ‘‘$250,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$500,000’’. 

11 (B) AUTHORITY TO APPLY PROVISIONS

12 BELOW THE THRESHOLD.—The Federal Acqui13 sition Regulatory Council may apply a provision 

14 that would not otherwise be applicable below 

15 the threshold as amended by subparagraph (A) 

16 upon a written determination that it would not 

17 be in the best interest of the Federal Govern18 ment to exempt contracts and subcontracts in 

19 amounts not greater than such amended thresh20 old from such provision, such as for national se21 curity reasons. 

22 (d) MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULE PROGRAM COM23 PETITIVE PROCEDURES.— 

24 (1) FINDING.—Congress finds that the competi25 tion standard established by the Administrator of 


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1 General Services for the multiple award schedule 

2 program of the General Services Administration 

3 should be updated and made consistent with the 

4 competition standard for other procurement meth5 ods, such as simplified acquisitions and negotiated 

6 procurements. The term ‘‘best value’’ is defined in 

7 the Federal Acquisition Regulation as meaning the 

8 expected outcome of an acquisition that, in the Gov9 ernment’s estimation, provides the greatest overall 

10 benefit in response to the requirement. 

11 (2) AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (A) CIVILIAN CONTRACTS.—Section 

13 152(3)(B) of title 41, United States Code, is 

14 amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(B) contracts and orders under such pro16 gram result in the award of best value products 

17 and services for the Federal Government;’’. 

18 (B) DEFENSE CONTRACTS.—Section 

19 3012(3)(B) of title 10, United States Code, is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(B) contracts and orders under such pro22 gram result in the award of best value products 

23 and services for the Federal Government;’’. 

24 (3) GUIDANCE.—The Federal Acquisition Regu25 latory Council shall provide guidance to Federal 


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1 agencies on appropriate use of the best value com2 petition standard for the multiple award schedule 

3 program as part of the implementing regulations 

4 promulgated in connection with the amendments 

5 made by paragraph (2). 

6 (e) ADVANCES FOR COMMERCIAL TECHNOLOGY SUB7 SCRIPTIONS AND TENANCY.— 

8 (1) FINDING.—Congress finds that the author9 ity to make advance payments should be updated for 

10 purposes of enabling the most cost-effective acquisi11 tion of cloud computing, data center solutions and 

12 services, and other information and communications 

13 technology acquired on a subscription, reservation, 

14 or tenancy basis. 

15 (2) AUTHORITY TO PAY ADVANCES.—Section 

16 3324(d) of title 31, United States Code, is amend17 ed— 

18 (A) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ‘‘; 

19 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

20 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

21 (i) by inserting ‘‘or commercially 

22 available content’’ after ‘‘publication’’; and 

23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

24 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(3) charges for information and communica4 tions technology subscriptions, reservations, or ten5 ancy, which means the sharing of computing re6 sources in a private or public environment, including 

7 cloud environments, for which the ordering agency 

8 defines appropriate access and security standards.’’. 

9 SEC. 6. INCREASING COMPETITION IN FEDERAL CON10 TRACTING. 

11 (a) USE OF PAST PERFORMANCE.—Not later than 

12 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 Administrator shall issue guidance, including examples 

14 and templates where appropriate, on— 

15 (1) when a wider range of projects, such as 

16 commercial or non-government, as well as Govern17 ment projects, should be accepted as relevant past 

18 performance, in order to have increased competition 

19 among eligible firms with capability to perform a re20 quirement, such as a requirement without much 

21 precedent; 

22 (2) a means by which an agency may validate 

23 non-government past performance references, such 

24 as by requiring an official of an entity providing 

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1 thenticity and by providing verifiable contact infor2 mation for the references; and 

3 (3) use of alternative evaluation methods other 

4 than past performance that may be appropriate for 

5 a requirement without much precedent, such as dem6 onstrations and testing of technologies as part of the 

7 proposal process. 

8 (b) ENSURING A CAPABLE FEDERAL VENDOR

9 BASE.— 

10 (1) WORKING GROUP.—Not later than 90 days 

11 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad12 ministrator shall convene a working group or an ap13 propriate existing body (in this section referred to as 

14 the ‘‘working group’’), to make recommendations to 

15 address the Federal Government’s shrinking vendor 

16 base and related matters. 

17 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The working group con18 vened under paragraph (1) shall be chaired by the 

19 Administrator or a designee of the Administrator 

20 and include, at a minimum, representatives from the 

21 following departments and agencies: 

22 (A) The General Services Administration. 

23 (B) The Department of Homeland Secu24 rity. 

25 (C) The Department of Commerce. 


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1 (D) The Department of Defense. 

2 (E) The Department of Health and 

3 Human Services. 

4 (F) The Small Business Administration. 

5 (G) Any other agencies or organizations as 

6 determined appropriate by the Administrator. 

7 (3) CONSULTATION.—The working group shall 

8 obtain input from the public, including from the 

9 APEX Accelerators program (formerly known as 

10 Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) 

11 network) and other contractor representatives, to 

12 identify Federal procurement policies and regula13 tions that are obsolete, overly burdensome or restric14 tive, not adequately harmonized, or otherwise serve 

15 to create barriers to participation in Federal con16 tracting or unnecessarily increase bid and proposal 

17 costs. 

18 (4) EXAMINATION OF ACTIONS.—The working 

19 group shall consider the input obtained under para20 graph (3) and any other information determined to 

21 be relevant by the working group to identify legisla22 tive, regulatory, and other actions to remove barriers 

23 to qualified vendors in the procurement process, in 

24 order to build the Federal vendor base, increase 

25 competition, and address related matters. 


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1 (5) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 2 years 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad3 ministrator shall, in consultation with the Federal 

4 Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Chief Acquisi5 tion Officers Council, the working group, and other 

6 agencies as appropriate, implement the regulatory 

7 and other non-legislative actions identified under 

8 paragraph (4), as determined necessary by the Ad9 ministrator, to remove barriers to entry for those 

10 seeking to participate in Federal Government pro11 curement. 

12 (6) BRIEFING.—Not later than 2 years after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis14 trator shall brief the relevant committees of Con15 gress on the legislative actions identified under para16 graph (4), and the actions implemented under para17 graph (5). 

18 SEC. 7. INCENTIVIZING EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP 

19 PLANS FOR BUSINESS GROWTH. 

20 (a) PILOT PROGRAM TO USE NONCOMPETITIVE PRO21 CEDURES FOR CERTAIN FOLLOW-ON CONTRACTS TO

22 QUALIFIED BUSINESSES WHOLLY-OWNED THROUGH AN

23 EMPLOYEE STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN (ESOP).— 

24 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator may 

25 expand the pilot program authorized by section 874 


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1 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

2 Year 2022 (Public Law 117–81; 10 U.S.C. 3204 

3 note) for Government-wide use, including by coordi4 nating as necessary with the Federal Acquisition 

5 Regulatory Council to make related amendments to 

6 the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

7 (2) FOLLOW-ON CONTRACTS.—Notwithstanding 

8 the requirements of section 3301 of title 41, United 

9 States Code, for purposes of carrying out a Govern10 ment-wide ESOP pilot program established under 

11 paragraph (1), the products or services to be pro12 cured by an executive agency under a follow-on con13 tract with a qualified business wholly-owned through 

14 an ESOP for the continued development, production, 

15 or provision of products or services that are the 

16 same as or substantially similar to the products or 

17 services procured under a prior contract may be pro18 cured through procedures other than competitive 

19 procedures if the performance of the qualified busi20 ness on the prior contract was rated as satisfactory 

21 (or the equivalent) or better. 

22 (3) LIMITATION.—A qualified business wholly23 owned through an ESOP may have a single oppor24 tunity for award of a sole-source follow-on contract 

25 under this subsection, unless the senior procurement 


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1 executive of the executive agency awarding the con2 tract approves a waiver of such limitation. 

3 (b) VERIFICATION AND REPORTING OF QUALIFIED

4 BUSINESSES WHOLLY-OWNED THROUGH AN EMPLOYEE

5 STOCK OWNERSHIP PLAN.—Under a pilot program estab6 lished under this section, the Administrator shall establish 

7 procedures— 

8 (1) for businesses to verify status as a qualified 

9 business wholly-owned through an ESOP for the 

10 purposes of this section by using existing Federal re11 porting mechanisms; 

12 (2) for a qualified businesses wholly-owned 

13 through an ESOP to certify that not more than 50 

14 percent of the amount paid under the contract will 

15 be expended on subcontracts, including similarly sit16 uated ESOPs if determined appropriate by the Ad17 ministrator, subject to such necessary and reason18 able waivers as the implementing guidance or regu19 lations may prescribe; and 

20 (3) to record and provide to relevant commit21 tees of Congress upon request information on each 

22 follow-on contract awarded under authority of this 

23 subsection, including details relevant to the nature 

24 of such contract and the qualified business wholly25 owned through an ESOP that received the contract. 


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1 (c) SUNSET.—A pilot program established under this 

2 section shall expire on the date that is 5 years after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

5 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Improvement 

6 in Technology Procurement Act’’ or the ‘‘FIT Procurement 

7 Act’’. 

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.—The term ‘‘ac11 quisition workforce’’ means employees of an executive 

12 agency who are responsible for procurement, con13 tracting, program or project management that in14 volves the performance of acquisition-related func15 tions, or others as designated by the Chief Acquisition 

16 Officer, senior procurement executive, or head of the 

17 contracting activity. 

18 (2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator for Federal Procure20 ment Policy. 

21 (3) CROSS-FUNCTIONAL.—The term ‘‘cross-func22 tional’’ means a structure in which individuals with 

23 different functional expertise or from different areas 

24 of an organization work together as a team. 


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1 (4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

2 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

4 (5) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—The term ‘‘expe5 riential learning’’ means on-the-job experiences or 

6 simulations that serve to enhance workforce profes7 sional skills. 

8 (6) INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH9 NOLOGY.—The term ‘‘information and communica10 tions technology’’— 

11 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec12 tion 4713 of title 41, United States Code; and 

13 (B) includes information and communica14 tions technologies covered by definitions con15 tained in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in16 cluding definitions added after the date of the 

17 enactment of this Act by the Federal Acquisition 

18 Regulatory Council pursuant to notice and com19 ment. 

20 (7) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.—The 

21 term ‘‘relevant committees of Congress’’ means the 

22 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

23 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight 

24 and Accountability of the House of Representatives. 


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1 (8) SMALL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘small busi2 ness’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘small business 

3 concern’’ in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 632). 

5 SEC. 3. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. 

6 (a) EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING.—Not later than 18 

7 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed8 eral Acquisition Institute shall establish a pilot program 

9 to consider the incorporation of experiential learning into 

10 the Federal Credentials Program, the Federal Acquisition 

11 Certification-Contracting Officer’s Representative (FAC12 COR) Program, and the Federal Acquisition Certification 

13 for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM) Program, 

14 or any successor programs. 

15 (b) TRAINING ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

16 TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal 

19 Acquisition Institute, in coordination with the Ad20 ministrator, the Administrator of General Services, 

21 the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Govern22 ment, the Chief Information Officers Council, and the 

23 United States Digital Service, and in consultation 

24 with others as determined to be appropriate by the 

25 Director of the Federal Acquisition Institute, shall deVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Dec 10, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S4066.RS S4066

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1 velop and implement or otherwise provide a cross2 functional information and communications tech3 nology acquisition training program for acquisition 

4 workforce members involved in acquiring information 

5 and communications technology. The training shall— 

6 (A) include learning objectives related to 

7 market research, communicating with industry 

8 and industry perspectives on the procurement 

9 process, including how investment decisions are 

10 impacted by Government communication and 

11 engagement, developing requirements, acquisition 

12 planning, best practices for developing and exe13 cuting outcome-based contracts, and source selec14 tion strategy, evaluating proposals, and award15 ing and administering contracts for information 

16 and communications technology; 

17 (B) include learning objectives that provide 

18 a basic understanding of key technologies Federal 

19 agencies need, such as cloud computing, artifi20 cial intelligence and artificial intelligence-en21 abled applications, and cybersecurity solutions; 

22 (C) include learning objectives that encour23 age the use of commercial or commercially avail24 able off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies to the 

25 greatest extent practicable; 


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1 (D) include case studies of lessons learned 

2 from Federal information and communications 

3 technology procurements and contracts, and re4 lated matters as deemed relevant by the Director 

5 of the Federal Acquisition Institute; 

6 (E) include experiential learning opportu7 nities, and opportunities to practice acquisition 

8 teaming involving collaboration of team members 

9 with varied relevant domain expertise to com10 plete acquisition-related tasks, including tasks 

11 with accelerated timelines; 

12 (F) include continuous learning rec13 ommendations and resources to keep the skills of 

14 acquisition workforce members current, includ15 ing tools that help adopt or adapt the use of in16 novative acquisition practices or other flexible 

17 business practices commonly used in commercial 

18 buys; 

19 (G) be made available to acquisition work20 force members designated by a Chief Acquisition 

21 Officer, senior procurement executive, or head of 

22 the contracting activity to participate in the 

23 training program; and 

24 (H) inform executive agencies about stream25 lined and alternative procurement methods for 


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1 procurement of information and communications 

2 technology, including— 

3 (i) simplified procedures for certain 

4 commercial products and commercial serv5 ices in accordance with subpart 13.5 of the 

6 Federal Acquisition Regulation, prize com7 petitions under the America COMPETES 

8 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Public Law 

9 111–358), competitive programs that en10 courage businesses to engage in Federal re11 search or research and development with the 

12 potential for commercialization, and joint 

13 venture partnerships; 

14 (ii) innovative procurement techniques 

15 designed to streamline the procurement 

16 process and lower barriers to entry, such as 

17 use of oral presentations and product dem18 onstrations instead of lengthy written pro19 posals, appropriately leveraging perform20 ance and outcomes-based contracting, and 

21 other techniques discussed on the Periodic 

22 Table of Acquisition Innovations or other 

23 similar successor knowledge management 

24 portals; and 


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1 (iii) information on appropriate use, 

2 examples and templates, and any other in3 formation determined relevant by the Ad4 ministrator to assist contracting officers 

5 and other members of the acquisition work6 force in using the procedures described in 

7 clauses (i) and (ii). 

8 (I) includes ethical procurement practices 

9 as a core component of trainings and provides a 

10 mechanism for feedback from program partici11 pants to ensure trainings cover ethical procure12 ment practices that are aligned with the evolving 

13 landscape of technology and procurement; 

14 (J) incorporates learning objectives for 

15 workforce members to identify and mitigate 

16 wasteful practices and unethical behaviors in 

17 procurement processes, with a focus on practical 

18 applications rather than theoretical knowledge; 

19 and 

20 (K) incorporates learning objectives on pri21 vacy protection and civil liberties safeguards, en22 suring that all acquisition workforce members 

23 understand the importance of integrating these 

24 considerations into the procurement process. 


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1 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

3 Federal Acquisition Institute shall provide to the rel4 evant committees of Congress, the Chief Acquisition 

5 Officers Council, and the Chief Information Officers 

6 Council— 

7 (A) a report on the Director’s progress in 

8 developing and implementing or otherwise pro9 viding the information and communications 

10 technology acquisition training described in 

11 paragraph (1); and 

12 (B) a list of any acquisition training that 

13 the Director determines to be outdated or no 

14 longer necessary for other reasons. 

15 (3) DURATION.—The training program shall be 

16 updated as appropriate as technology advances, but 

17 at least every 2 years after implementation, and of18 fered for a minimum of 5 years following the date of 

19 implementation of the training program. 

20 (c) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND.—Sec21 tion 1703(i)(3) of title 41, United States Code, is amended 

22 by striking ‘‘Five percent’’ and inserting ‘‘Seven and a half 

23 percent’’. 

24 (d) HARMONIZATION OF ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

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1 quirement in subsection (b)(1) of section 2 of the AI Train2 ing Act (Public Law 117–207; 41 U.S.C. 1703 note) is reas3 signed from the Director of the Office of Management and 

4 Budget to the Administrator of General Services. 

5 SEC. 4. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS. 

6 (a) INCREASE IN SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESH7 OLD.—Section 134 of title 41, United States Code, is 

8 amended by striking ‘‘$250,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$500,000’’. 

9 (b) ADVANCES FOR COMMERCIAL TECHNOLOGY SUB10 SCRIPTIONS AND TENANCY.—Section 3324(d) of title 31, 

11 United States Code, is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

13 inserting a semicolon; 

14 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

15 (A) by inserting ‘‘or commercially available 

16 content’’ after ‘‘publication’’; and 

17 (B) by striking the period at the end and 

18 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new para20 graph: 

21 ‘‘(3) charges for information and communica22 tions technology subscriptions, reservations, or ten23 ancy, which means the sharing of computing re24 sources in a private or public environment, including 


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1 cloud environments, for which the ordering agency de2 fines appropriate access and security standards.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. INCREASING COMPETITION IN FEDERAL CON4 TRACTING. 

5 (a) USE OF PAST PERFORMANCE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis8 trator shall issue guidance, including examples and 

9 templates where appropriate, on— 

10 (A) when a wider range of projects, such as 

11 commercial or non-government, as well as Gov12 ernment projects, should be accepted as relevant 

13 past performance, in order to have increased 

14 competition among eligible firms with capability 

15 to perform a requirement, such as a requirement 

16 without much precedent; 

17 (B) a means by which an agency may vali18 date non-government past performance ref19 erences, such as by requiring an official of an 

20 entity providing past performance references to 

21 attest to their authenticity and by providing 

22 verifiable contact information for the references; 

23 and 

24 (C) use of alternative evaluation methods 

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1 priate for a requirement without much prece2 dent, such as demonstrations and testing of tech3 nologies as part of the proposal process. 

4 (2) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—The guidance 

5 issued under paragraph (1) shall supplement, not re6 place, existing Federal and agency policy and proce7 dures for consideration of past performance and other 

8 evaluation factors and methods. 

9 (b) ENHANCING COMPETITION IN FEDERAL PROCURE10 MENT.— 

11 (1) COUNCIL RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later 

12 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the Administrator shall convene the Chief Acqui14 sition Officers’ Council (in this section referred to as 

15 the ‘‘Council’’), to make recommendations to identify 

16 and eliminate specific, unnecessary procedural bar17 riers that disproportionately affect the ability of small 

18 businesses to compete for Federal contracts, with a 

19 focus on streamlining documentation and qualifica20 tion requirements unrelated to the protection of pri21 vacy and civil liberties, and related matters. 

22 (2) CONSULTATION.—The Council shall obtain 

23 input from the public, including from the APEX Ac24 celerators program (formerly known as Procurement 

25 Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) network) and 


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1 other contractor representatives, to identify Federal 

2 procurement policies and regulations that are obso3 lete, overly burdensome or restrictive, not adequately 

4 harmonized, or otherwise serve to create barriers to 

5 small business participation in Federal contracting 

6 or unnecessarily increase bid and proposal costs. 

7 (3) EXAMINATION OF ACTIONS.—The Council 

8 shall consider the input obtained under paragraph (3) 

9 and any other information determined to be relevant 

10 by the Council to identify legislative, regulatory, and 

11 other actions to increase competition and remove bar12 riers to small business participation in the procure13 ment process. 

14 (4) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 2 years 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Admin16 istrator shall, in consultation with the Federal Acqui17 sition Regulatory Council, the Chief Acquisition Offi18 cers Council, and other agencies as appropriate, im19 plement the regulatory and other non-legislative ac20 tions identified under paragraph (4), as determined 

21 necessary by the Administrator, to remove barriers to 

22 entry for small businesses seeking to participate in 

23 Federal Government procurement. 

24 (5) BRIEFING.—Not later than 2 years after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator 


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1 shall brief the relevant committees of Congress on the 

2 legislative actions identified under paragraph (4), 

3 and the actions implemented under paragraph (5). 

4 (c) CONSIDERATION OF COST-EFFICIENCY AND QUAL5 ITY.—The Administrator shall advocate for and prioritize 

6 contracting policies that ensure that cost-efficiency and 

7 quality of goods and services are key determining factors 

8 in awarding Federal contracts. 

9 SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF SMALL 

10 BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL PRO11 CUREMENT. 

12 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

14 States shall submit to Congress and make publicly available 

15 a report that— 

16 (1) assesses the current level of small business 

17 participation in Federal procurement, identifying 

18 barriers, opportunities, and the impact of existing 

19 policies on the ability of small businesses to compete 

20 in Federal procurement; 

21 (2) catalogs and evaluates the effectiveness of 

22 programs intended to support small business partici23 pation in Federal procurement; and 

24 (3) analyzes trends in small business involve25 ment in Federal technology projects, including data 


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1 on contract awards, the diversity of sectors rep2 resented, and the geographic distribution of small 

3 business contractors. 

4 SEC. 7. CONFLICT OF INTEREST PROCEDURES. 

5 The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council and the 

6 Administrator shall update the Federal Acquisition Regula7 tion as necessary to provide additional guidance to Federal 

8 agencies to address personal and organizational conflicts of 

9 interest involving members of the acquisition workforce. 

10 SEC. 8. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING. 

11 No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated 

12 for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 


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Calendar No. 679 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4066 

[Report No. 118–276] 

A BILL 

To improve Federal technology procurement, and 

D

for other purposes. 

ECEMBER 9, 2024 

Reported with an amendment 


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