II 

Calendar No. 383 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2413 

[Report No. 115–232] 

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 (for herself and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REVISIONS TO FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REGULA2 TIONS. 

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

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator for Fed5 eral Procurement Policy, in consultation with the Adminis6 trator of the General Services Administration, shall sub7 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 

8 on governmentwide policies, practices, and uses of bridge 

9 contracts. 

10 (b) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGU11 LATION AND RELATED GUIDANCE.— 

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

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed14 eral Acquisition Regulatory Council shall, based on 

15 the findings of the review under this section, amend 

16 the Federal Acquisition Regulation— 

17 (A) to provide for a common definition of 

18 bridge contracts, with consideration given to— 

19 (i) extensions to existing contracts be20 yond the base and option years to avoid 

21 lapses in service caused by delays in 

22 awarding subsequent contracts; and 

23 (ii) new short-term contracts awarded 

24 on a sole source basis to avoid lapses in 

25 service caused by delays in awarding sub26 sequent contracts; and 


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1 (B) to provide for the appropriate use of 

2 such contracts, including, as appropriate, pa3 rameters related to duration and cost. 

4 (2) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator for Federal 

5 Procurement Policy, in consultation with the Admin6 istrator of General Services, may issue guidance to 

7 executive agencies regarding the use of bridge con8 tracts, including with respect to duration and cost, 

9 and related guidance to implement the policies de10 scribed under paragraph (1). 

11 SEC. 3. AGENCY TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTS. 

12 (a) GUIDANCE ON INFORMATION COLLECTION.—Not 

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

14 Act, the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy 

15 shall issue guidance for executive agencies to collect infor16 mation on the use of bridge contracts. The guidance shall 

17 include an interim definition of bridge contracts for agen18 cies to use in their reporting until the Federal Acquisition 

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

20 (b) REPORTING TO OFFICE OF FEDERAL PROCURE21 MENT POLICY.— 

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

23 30, 2019, and by September 30 of each subsequent 

24 year thereafter until 2025, the head of each execu25 tive agency shall submit to the Administrator for 


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1 Federal Procurement Policy a report on the use by 

2 the agency of bridge contracts. 

3 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

4 paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 

5 (A) The common definition for bridge con6 tracts used by contracting offices of the execu7 tive agency. 

8 (B) The total number of bridge contracts 

9 entered into during the previous 5 fiscal years 

10 previous fiscal year. 

11 (C) The estimated value of each contract 

12 that required the use of a bridge contract and 

13 the cost of the bridge contract or contracts. 

14 (D) The reasons for and cost of each 

15 bridge contract. 

16 (E) The types of services or goods being 

17 acquired under each bridge contract. 

18 (F) The length of the initial contract that 

19 required the use of a bridge contract, including 

20 the base and any exercised option years, and 

21 the cumulative length of any bridge contract or 

22 contracts related to the initial contract. 

23 (G) A description of how many of the con24 tracts that required bridge contracts were sub25 sequently recompeted and how many of those 


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1 recompeted contracts were the subject of a bid 

2 protest. 

3 (G) A description of how many bridge con4 tracts were entered into as the result of a bid 

5 protest. 

6 (H) A description of existing statutory, 

7 regulatory, or agency guidance that the agency 

8 followed to execute the bridge contracts. 

9 (I) Any other matters determined to be rel10 evant by the Office of Federal Procurement 

11 Policy or the General Services Administration. 

12 (3) PUBLICATION.—The report required under 

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

14 website of the executive agency. 

15 (4) QUARTERLY NOTIFICATIONS.— 

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

17 determined under guidance prescribed by the 

18 Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, 

19 each executive agency shall submit a list of 

20 bridge contracts issued during the prior quarter 

21 to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to 

22 be compiled by the Administrator into a single 

23 report and presented to the appropriate con24 gressional committees. 


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1 (B) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The lists 

2 submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include 

3 unique contract identifiers, beginning and end 

4 dates of initial contracts, beginning and end 

5 dates of bridge contracts, and the reasons or 

6 rationale for the use of each bridge contract. 

7 (c) GOVERNMENTWIDE REPORT.—Not later than 

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

9 year until 2025, the Administrator for Federal Procure10 ment Policy shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

11 committees a report summarizing the use by executive 

12 agencies of bridge contracts, including any recommenda13 tions for legislation to ensure accountability and trans14 parency in the use of bridge contracts. 

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

16 provide public notice within 30 days after entering into 

17 a bridge contract, including the information required to 

18 be reported in subsection (b)(2) to the extent it is avail19 able. 

20 SEC. 4. AGENCY POLICIES. 

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

22 shall develop policies and procedures, to the greatest ex23 tent practicable, that seek to minimize the use of bridge 

24 contracts while providing for continuation of services to 


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1 be performed through contracts and ensure appropriate 

2 planning by contracting officials. 

3 (b) REQUIRED ELEMENTS.—The policies developed 

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

5 (1) Sufficient time and planning to review con6 tract requirements, compete contracts as appro7 priate, enter into contracts, and consider the possi8 bility of bid protests. 

9 (2) For contracts that do not meet timeliness 

10 standards or which require entering into bridge con11 tracts, contracting officials shall notify the chief ac12 quisition officer of the executive agency and the 

13 head of the executive agency. 

14 (3) The Chief Acquisition Officer must approve 

15 any bridge contract that lasts longer than six 

16 months, and the head of the agency must approve 

17 any bridge contract that lasts longer than one year. 

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

19 section do not apply to— 

20 (1) service contracts in support of contingency 

21 operations, humanitarian assistance, or disaster re22 lief; 

23 (2) service contracts in support of national se24 curity emergencies declared with respect to named 

25 operations; or 


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1 (3) service contracts entered into pursuant to 

2 international agreements. 

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

9 and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

10 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

11 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Gov12 ernment Reform and the Committee on Appro13 priations of the House of Representatives. 

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

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

16 133 of title 41, United States Code. 


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Calendar No. 383 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2413 

[Report No. 115–232] 

A BILL 

To provide for the appropriate use of bridge conposes. tracts in Federal procurement, and for other purAPRIL 18, 2018 

Reported with amendments 


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