I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7566 

To allow the Administrator of the General Services Administration to transfer 

certain surplus computers and technology equipment to nonprofit computer refurbishers for repair and distribution, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2020 

Ms. SPANBERGER (for herself, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. RIGGLEMAN, and Mrs. 

LURIA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To allow the Administrator of the General Services Administration to transfer certain surplus computers and technology equipment to nonprofit computer refurbishers for 

repair and distribution, 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 ‘‘Computers for Vet5 erans and Students Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘COVS Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Access to computers and computer tech2 nology is indispensable for success in the 21st cen3 tury. Millions of Americans do not regularly use a 

4 computer, and research shows that substantial dis5 parities remain in both internet use and the quality 

6 of access with the digital divide concentrated among 

7 older, less educated, less affluent populations, espe8 cially veterans, low-income students, and senior citi9 zens. 

10 (2) In 1996, the President issued Executive 

11 Order 12999 instructing the General Services Ad12 ministration (GSA) to allow schools and nonprofits 

13 the ability to receive Federal surplus computers for 

14 educational purposes. 

15 (3) GSA created the Computers for Learning 

16 Program, which distributes approximately 30,000 

17 computers and computer-related equipment annually 

18 to public schools and educational nonprofits for 

19 reuse. 

20 (4) In July 2017, the Inspector General for 

21 GSA issued a report on the lack of controls with the 

22 CFL website. The report noted multiple cases of 

23 theft or fraud pertaining to lack of vetting of edu24 cation nonprofits registering on the website. Al25 though GSA indicated that other Federal agencies 


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1 had responsibility to vet nonprofits for eligibility, 

2 many agencies were not aware of this requirement. 

3 (5) Since the IG report was issued, GSA has 

4 implemented reforms to ensure that agencies are 

5 aware of their responsibility to determine that edu6 cational nonprofits are certified tax-exempt 

7 501(c)(3) organizations. However, there remains an 

8 issue with schools obtaining surplus computers that 

9 are not ready to use. In most cases, the schools do 

10 not have the resources to pay to refurbish the com11 puters, which results in computers being wasted. 

12 (6) Any Federal program that distributes re13 tired Federal computers to a public school, an edu14 cational nonprofit organization, or a nonprofit com15 puter refurbisher for repair and distribution, would 

16 benefit from a partnership with a nonprofit organi17 zation, whose mission includes bridging the digital 

18 divide. 

19 SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN SURPLUS COMPUTERS AND 

20 TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT TO NONPROFIT 

21 COMPUTER REFURBISHERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

23 (1) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The head of each Fed24 eral agency may transfer any surplus computer or 

25 technology equipment that is not being used by the 


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1 Federal agency, or has not been requested for use by 

2 another Federal agency, and has not been used for 

3 classified information (unless the relevant agency 

4 head determines that appropriate steps were taken 

5 to wipe the memory of such computer or technology 

6 equipment)— 

7 (A) directly to an eligible computer refur8 bisher for receipt in accordance with subsection 

9 (b); or 

10 (B) to the Administrator of the General 

11 Services Administration for further transfer in 

12 accordance with paragraph (2). 

13 (2) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.— 

14 The Administrator shall transfer a computer re15 ceived under paragraph (1) to a public school, an 

16 educational nonprofit organization, or a nonprofit 

17 computer refurbisher for repair and distribution in 

18 accordance with subsection (b)(1). 

19 (3) PARTNERSHIP.—The Administrator may es20 tablish a partnership nonprofit computer refurbisher 

21 to facilitate the identification of computer refur22 bisher organizations and the distribution of com23 puters to such computer refurbishers. 

24 (b) DUTIES OF NONPROFIT COMPUTER REFUR25 BISHERS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A computer refurbisher who 

2 receives a computer under paragraph (1) or (2) shall 

3 repair and distribute such computer to educational 

4 institution, a veteran, an individual with a disability, 

5 a low-income individual, a student, or a senior in 

6 need. 

7 (2) TRAINING PROGRAMS.—Each nonprofit 

8 computer refurbisher to whom the Administrator of 

9 the General Services Administration transfers a sur10 plus computer or technology equipment under sub11 section (a) shall offer training programs on the use 

12 of computers and technology equipment for— 

13 (A) educational institutions; 

14 (B) veterans; 

15 (C) individuals with disabilities; 

16 (D) low-income individuals; 

17 (E) students; and 

18 (F) seniors. 

19 (3) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the Sense of 

20 Congress that each nonprofit computer refurbisher 

21 to whom the Administrator of the General Services 

22 Administration transfers a surplus computer or tech23 nology equipment under subsection (a) should dis24 pose of any such computer or technology that cannot 

25 be reused due to age or condition— 


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1 (A) in compliance with any Federal, State, 

2 or local law relating to the disposition of any in3 formation technology assets that cannot be re4 used or refurbished due to condition or age; and 

5 (B) in ways that can still be leveraged to 

6 fulfill their missions to bridge the digital divide. 

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) DIGITAL DIVIDE.—The gap between those 

9 who have an internet-connected computer and the 

10 skills to use it, and those who do not. Principle bar11 riers to closing this gap include access to devices, af12 fordability, digital literacy, and access to broadband. 

13 (2) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—The term 

14 ‘‘educational institution’’ means— 

15 (A) any public or private child care center, 

16 preschool, elementary school, secondary school, 

17 accredited institution of vocational or profes18 sional education, or institution of higher edu19 cation; and 

20 (B) in the case of an accredited institution 

21 of vocational or professional education or an in22 stitution of higher education composed of more 

23 than one school, college, or department that is 

24 administratively a separate unit, each such 

25 school, college, or department. 


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1 (3) EDUCATIONAL NONPROFIT.—The term 

2 ‘‘educational nonprofit’’ means a nonprofit organiza3 tion that has a training component whereby the non4 profit organization trains the end user of the com5 puter equipment how to use such equipment and 

6 that— 

7 (A) has a mission related to education; or 

8 (B) serves veterans, individuals with dis9 abilities, low-income individuals, or seniors. 

10 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

11 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

12 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High13 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

14 (5) NONPROFIT COMPUTER REFURBISHER.— 

15 The term ‘‘nonprofit computer refurbisher’’ means a 

16 nonprofit organization— 

17 (A) that primarily works to improve access 

18 to information and communication technology 

19 in order to Bridge the Digital Divide; and 

20 (B) that is exempt from taxation under 

21 section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 

22 of 1986. 

23 (6) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec24 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 


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1 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu2 cation Act of 1965. 

3 (7) SENIOR.—The term ‘‘senior’’ means any in4 dividual who is 65 years of age or older. 

5 (8) STUDENT.—The term ‘‘student’’ means any 

6 individual enrolled in an educational institution, ex7 cluding a public or private child care center. 

8 (9) TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT.—The term 

9 ‘‘technology equipment’’ means physical assets re10 lated to computers and information technology, in11 cluding peripheral components, tablets, communica12 tion devices (such as routers, servers, and cell 

13 phones), printers, scanners, uninterruptible power 

14 sources, and cables and connections. 

15 (10) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

16 meaning given such term in section 101 of title 38, 

17 United States Code. 

18 (d) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, and every three years there20 after, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report 

21 on the efforts of the Administrator and the head of each 

22 Federal agency under this Act. Such report shall in23 clude— 

24 (1) the number of Federal computers retired in 

25 that time period; 


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1 (2) the number of those retired computers that 

2 were used in this program (and the uses of retired 

3 computers that were not included in this program); 

4 (3) the distribution split of those retired Fed5 eral computers to public schools, educational non6 profit organizations, and a nonprofit computer refur7 bisher for repair and distribution; and 

8 (4) the number of computers sent to computer 

9 refurbishers and the number of computers that were 

10 donated under this section. 

Æ 


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