I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1424 

To improve the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 7, 2011 

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To improve the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

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 Acquisition 

5 Improvement Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENTS. 

7 (a) WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENTS.—Section 1704(b) 

8 of title 41, United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) by inserting after the first sentence the fol10 lowing: ‘‘The Associate Administrator shall be cho11 sen on the basis of demonstrated knowledge and exVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:41 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1424.IH H1424

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1 pertise in acquisition, human capital, and manage2 ment.’’; 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘The Associate Administrator 

4 for Acquisition Workforce Programs shall be located 

5 in the Federal Acquisition Institute (or its suc6 cessor).’’ and inserting ‘‘The Associate Adminis7 trator shall be located in the Office of Federal Pro8 curement Policy.’’; 

9 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

10 inserting a semicolon; 

11 (4) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para12 graph (6); and 

13 (5) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol14 lowing new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(5) implementing workforce programs under 

16 subsections (f) through (k) of section 1703 of this 

17 title; and’’. 

18 (b) FEDERAL ACQUISITION INSTITUTE.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Division B of title 41, 

20 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

21 chapter 11 the following new chapter: 

22 ‘‘CHAPTER 12—FEDERAL ACQUISITION 

23 INSTITUTE 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘1201. Federal Acquisition Institute. 


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1 ‘‘§ 1201. Federal Acquisition Institute 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Federal 

3 Acquisition Institute (FAI) in order to— 

4 ‘‘(1) foster and promote the development of a 

5 professional acquisition workforce Government-wide; 

6 ‘‘(2) promote and coordinate Government-wide 

7 research and studies to improve the procurement 

8 process and the laws, policies, methods, regulations, 

9 procedures, and forms relating to acquisition by the 

10 executive agencies; 

11 ‘‘(3) collect data and analyze acquisition work12 force data from the Office of Personnel Manage13 ment, the heads of executive agencies, and, through 

14 periodic surveys, from individual employees; 

15 ‘‘(4) periodically analyze acquisition career 

16 fields to identify critical competencies, duties, tasks, 

17 and related academic prerequisites, skills, and 

18 knowledge; 

19 ‘‘(5) coordinate and assist agencies in identi20 fying and recruiting highly qualified candidates for 

21 acquisition fields; 

22 ‘‘(6) develop instructional materials for acquisi23 tion personnel in coordination with private and pub24 lic acquisition colleges and training facilities; 


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1 ‘‘(7) evaluate the effectiveness of training and 

2 career development programs for acquisition per3 sonnel; 

4 ‘‘(8) promote the establishment and utilization 

5 of academic programs by colleges and universities in 

6 acquisition fields; 

7 ‘‘(9) facilitate, to the extent requested by agen8 cies, interagency intern and training programs; and 

9 ‘‘(10) perform other career management or re10 search functions as directed by the Administrator. 

11 ‘‘(b) BUDGET RESOURCES AND AUTHORITY.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office 

13 of Management and Budget and the Administrator 

14 of General Services shall provide the Federal Acqui15 sition Institute with the necessary budget resources 

16 and authority to support government-wide training 

17 standards and certification requirements necessary 

18 to enhance the mobility and career opportunities of 

19 the Federal acquisition workforce. 

20 ‘‘(2) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING

21 FUND.—Subject to the availability of funds, the Ad22 minister of General Services shall provide the Fed23 eral Acquisition Institute with amounts from the ac24 quisition workforce training fund established under 

25 section 1703(i) of this title sufficient to meet the anVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:41 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1424.IH H1424

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1 nual budget for the Federal Acquisition Institute re2 quested by the Administrator for Federal Procure3 ment Policy. 

4 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL ACQUISITION INSTITUTE BOARD OF

5 DIRECTORS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REPORTING TO ADMINISTRATOR.—The 

7 Federal Acquisition Institute shall report through its 

8 Board of Directors directly to the Administrator for 

9 Federal Procurement Policy. 

10 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com11 posed of not more than 8 individuals from the Fed12 eral Government representing a mix of acquisition 

13 functional areas, all of whom shall be appointed by 

14 the Administrator. 

15 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Board shall provide general 

16 direction to the Federal Acquisition Institute to en17 sure that the Institute— 

18 ‘‘(A) meets its statutory requirements; 

19 ‘‘(B) meets the needs of the Federal acqui20 sition workforce; 

21 ‘‘(C) implements appropriate programs; 

22 ‘‘(D) coordinates with appropriate organi23 zations and groups that have an impact on the 

24 Federal acquisition workforce; 


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1 ‘‘(E) develops and implements plans to 

2 meet future challenges of the Federal acquisi3 tion workforce; and 

4 ‘‘(F) works closely with the Defense Acqui5 sition University. 

6 ‘‘(4) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Board shall 

7 make recommendations to the Administrator regard8 ing the development and execution of the annual 

9 budget of the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

10 ‘‘(d) DIRECTOR.—The Director of the Federal Acqui11 sition Institute shall be appointed by, and report directly 

12 to, the Administrator. 

13 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall 

14 submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov15 ernmental Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations 

16 of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Gov17 ernment Reform and the Committee on Appropriations of 

18 the House of Representatives an annual report on the pro19 jected budget needs and expense plans of the Federal Ac20 quisition Institute to fulfill its mandate.’’. 

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

22 1122(a)(5) of such title is amended to read as fol23 lows: 

24 ‘‘(5) providing for and directing the activities of 

25 the Federal Acquisition Institute established under 


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1 section 1201 of this title, including recommending to 

2 the Administrator of General Services a sufficient 

3 budget for such activities.’’. 

4 (c) GOVERNMENT-WIDE TRAINING STANDARDS AND

5 CERTIFICATION.—Section 1703 of title 41, United States 

6 Code, is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (c)(2)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘The Administrator shall’’ 

9 and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

11 shall’’; and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(B) GOVERNMENT-WIDE TRAINING

14 STANDARDS AND CERTIFICATION.—The Admin15 istrator, acting through the Federal Acquisition 

16 Institute, shall provide and update government17 wide training standards and certification re18 quirements, including— 

19 ‘‘(i) developing and modifying acquisi20 tion certification programs; 

21 ‘‘(ii) ensuring quality assurance for 

22 agency implementation of government-wide 

23 training and certification standards; 

24 ‘‘(iii) analyzing the acquisition train25 ing curriculum to ascertain if all certifiVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:41 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1424.IH H1424

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1 cation competencies are covered or if ad2 justments are necessary; 

3 ‘‘(iv) developing career path informa4 tion for certified professionals to encourage 

5 retention in government positions; 

6 ‘‘(v) coordinating with the Office of 

7 Personnel Management for human capital 

8 efforts; and 

9 ‘‘(vi) managing rotation assignments 

10 to support opportunities to apply skills in11 cluded in certification.’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub13 section: 

14 ‘‘(l) ACQUISITION INTERNSHIP AND TRAINING PRO15 GRAMS.—All Federal civilian agency acquisition internship 

16 or acquisition training programs shall follow guidelines 

17 provided by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to 

18 ensure consistent training standards necessary to develop 

19 uniform core competencies throughout the Federal Gov20 ernment.’’. 

21 (d) EXPANDED SCOPE OF ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

22 TRAINING FUND.—Section 1703(i) of such title is amend23 ed— 

24 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘to support 

25 the training of the acquisition workforce of the execVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:41 Apr 08, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1424.IH H1424

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1 utive agencies’’ and inserting ‘‘to support the activi2 ties set forth in section 1201(a) of this title’’; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘ensure that 

4 amounts collected for training under this subsection 

5 are not used for a purpose other than the purpose 

6 specified in paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘ensure 

7 that amounts collected under this section are not 

8 used for a purpose other than the activities set forth 

9 in section 1201(a) of this title’’. 

10 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec11 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

12 construed to preclude the Secretary of Defense from es13 tablishing acquisition workforce policies, procedures, 

14 training standards, and certification requirements for ac15 quisition positions in the Department of Defense, as pro16 vided in chapter 87 of title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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