II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2413 

To provide for the appropriate use of bridge contracts in Federal procurement, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2018 

Mrs. MCCASKILL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for the appropriate use of bridge contracts in 

Federal 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 ‘‘Bridge Contract 

5 Transparency and Accountability Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REVISIONS TO FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REGULA7 TIONS. 

8 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator for Fed10 eral Procurement Policy, in consultation with the AdminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Feb 10, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2413.IS S2413

SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2413 IS

1 trator of the General Services Administration, shall sub2 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

3 on governmentwide policies, practices, and uses of bridge 

4 contracts. 

5 (b) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGU6 LATION AND RELATED GUIDANCE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed9 eral Acquisition Regulatory Council shall, based on 

10 the findings of the review under this section, amend 

11 the Federal Acquisition Regulation— 

12 (A) to provide for a common definition of 

13 bridge contracts, with consideration given to— 

14 (i) extensions to existing contracts be15 yond the base and option years to avoid 

16 lapses in service caused by delays in 

17 awarding subsequent contracts; and 

18 (ii) new short-term contracts awarded 

19 on a sole source basis to avoid lapses in 

20 service caused by delays in awarding sub21 sequent contracts; and 

22 (B) to provide for the appropriate use of 

23 such contracts, including, as appropriate, pa24 rameters related to duration and cost. 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2413 IS

1 (2) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator for Federal 

2 Procurement Policy, in consultation with the Admin3 istrator of General Services, may issue guidance to 

4 executive agencies regarding the use of bridge con5 tracts, including with respect to duration and cost, 

6 and related guidance to implement the policies de7 scribed under paragraph (1). 

8 SEC. 3. AGENCY TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTS. 

9 (a) GUIDANCE ON INFORMATION COLLECTION.—Not 

10 later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

11 Act, the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy 

12 shall issue guidance for executive agencies to collect infor13 mation on the use of bridge contracts. The guidance shall 

14 include an interim definition of bridge contracts for agen15 cies to use in their reporting until the Federal Acquisition 

16 Regulation is amended pursuant to section 2(b)(1). 

17 (b) REPORTING TO OFFICE OF FEDERAL PROCURE18 MENT POLICY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 

20 30, 2019, and by September 30 of each subsequent 

21 year thereafter until 2025, the head of each execu22 tive agency shall submit to the Administrator for 

23 Federal Procurement Policy a report on the use by 

24 the agency of bridge contracts. 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2413 IS

1 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

2 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

3 (A) The common definition for bridge con4 tracts used by contracting offices of the execu5 tive agency. 

6 (B) The total number of bridge contracts 

7 entered into during the previous 5 fiscal years. 

8 (C) The estimated value of each contract 

9 that required the use of a bridge contract and 

10 the cost of the bridge contract or contracts. 

11 (D) The reasons for and cost of each 

12 bridge contract. 

13 (E) The types of services or goods being 

14 acquired under each bridge contract. 

15 (F) The length of the initial contract that 

16 required the use of a bridge contract, including 

17 the base and any exercised option years, and 

18 the cumulative length of any bridge contract or 

19 contracts related to the initial contract. 

20 (G) A description of how many of the con21 tracts that required bridge contracts were sub22 sequently recompeted and how many of those 

23 recompeted contracts were the subject of a bid 

24 protest. 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2413 IS

1 (H) A description of existing statutory, 

2 regulatory, or agency guidance that the agency 

3 followed to execute the bridge contracts. 

4 (I) Any other matters determined to be rel5 evant by the Office of Federal Procurement 

6 Policy or the General Services Administration. 

7 (3) PUBLICATION.—The report required under 

8 paragraph (1) shall be posted on a publicly available 

9 website of the executive agency. 

10 (4) QUARTERLY NOTIFICATIONS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—On a quarterly basis as 

12 determined under guidance prescribed by the 

13 Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, 

14 each executive agency shall submit a list of 

15 bridge contracts issued during the prior quarter 

16 to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to 

17 be compiled by the Administrator into a single 

18 report and presented to the appropriate con19 gressional committees. 

20 (B) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The lists 

21 submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include 

22 unique contract identifiers, beginning and end 

23 dates of initial contracts, beginning and end 

24 dates of bridge contracts, and the reasons or 

25 rationale for the use of each bridge contract. 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2413 IS

1 (c) GOVERNMENTWIDE REPORT.—Not later than 

2 March 31, 2019, and by March 31 of each subsequent 

3 year until 2025, the Administrator for Federal Procure4 ment Policy shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

5 committees a report summarizing the use by executive 

6 agencies of bridge contracts, including any recommenda7 tions for legislation to ensure accountability and trans8 parency in the use of bridge contracts. 

9 (d) PUBLIC NOTICE.—Each executive agency shall 

10 provide public notice within 30 days after entering into 

11 a bridge contract, including the information required to 

12 be reported in subsection (b)(2) to the extent it is avail13 able. 

14 SEC. 4. AGENCY POLICIES. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each executive agency 

16 shall develop policies and procedures, to the greatest ex17 tent practicable, that seek to minimize the use of bridge 

18 contracts while providing for continuation of services to 

19 be performed through contracts and ensure appropriate 

20 planning by contracting officials. 

21 (b) REQUIRED ELEMENTS.—The policies developed 

22 under subsection (a) shall include the following elements: 

23 (1) Sufficient time and planning to review con24 tract requirements, compete contracts as approVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:26 Feb 10, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2413.IS S2413

SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2413 IS

1 priate, enter into contracts, and consider the possi2 bility of bid protests. 

3 (2) For contracts that do not meet timeliness 

4 standards or which require entering into bridge con5 tracts, contracting officials shall notify the chief ac6 quisition officer of the executive agency and the 

7 head of the executive agency. 

8 (3) The Chief Acquisition Officer must approve 

9 any bridge contract that lasts longer than six 

10 months, and the head of the agency must approve 

11 any bridge contract that lasts longer than one year. 

12 (c) EXCEPTIONS.—The policies developed under this 

13 section do not apply to— 

14 (1) service contracts in support of contingency 

15 operations, humanitarian assistance, or disaster re16 lief; 

17 (2) service contracts in support of national se18 curity emergencies declared with respect to named 

19 operations; or 

20 (3) service contracts entered into pursuant to 

21 international agreements. 

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2413 IS

1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

5 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

6 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

7 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Gov8 ernment Reform and the Committee on Appro9 priations of the House of Representatives. 

10 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

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

12 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS