II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 762 

To improve the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7 (legislative day, APRIL 5), 2011 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. AKAKA, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. BROWN of 

Massachusetts) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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 Institute 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 05:46 Apr 09, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S762.IS S762

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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; 

9 ‘‘(10) collaborate with other civilian agency ac10 quisition training programs to leverage training sup11 porting all members of the civilian agency acquisi12 tion workforce; 

13 ‘‘(11) assist civilian agencies with their acquisi14 tion human capital planning efforts; and 

15 ‘‘(12) perform other career management or re16 search functions as directed by the Administrator. 

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

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator for Fed19 eral Procurement Policy shall recommend to the Ad20 ministrator of the General Services Administration 

21 sufficient budget resources and authority for the 

22 Federal Acquisition Institute to support Govern23 ment-wide training standards and certification re24 quirements necessary to enhance the mobility and 


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1 career opportunities of the Federal acquisition work2 force. 

3 ‘‘(2) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING

4 FUND.—Subject to the availability of funds, the Ad5 minister of General Services shall provide the Fed6 eral Acquisition Institute with amounts from the ac7 quisition workforce training fund established under 

8 section 1703(i) of this title sufficient to meet the an9 nual budget for the Federal Acquisition Institute re10 quested by the Administrator for Federal Procure11 ment Policy. 

12 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL ACQUISITION INSTITUTE BOARD OF

13 DIRECTORS.— 

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

15 Federal Acquisition Institute shall report through its 

16 Board of Directors directly to the Administrator for 

17 Federal Procurement Policy. 

18 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com19 posed of not more than 8 individuals from the Fed20 eral Government representing a mix of acquisition 

21 functional areas, all of whom shall be appointed by 

22 the Administrator. 

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

24 direction to the Federal Acquisition Institute to en25 sure that the Institute— 


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1 ‘‘(A) meets its statutory requirements; 

2 ‘‘(B) meets the needs of the Federal acqui3 sition workforce; 

4 ‘‘(C) implements appropriate programs; 

5 ‘‘(D) coordinates with appropriate organi6 zations and groups that have an impact on the 

7 Federal acquisition workforce; 

8 ‘‘(E) develops and implements plans to 

9 meet future challenges of the Federal acquisi10 tion workforce; and 

11 ‘‘(F) works closely with the Defense Acqui12 sition University. 

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

14 make recommendations to the Administrator regard15 ing the development and execution of the annual 

16 budget of the Federal Acquisition Institute. 

17 ‘‘(d) DIRECTOR.—The Director of the Federal Acqui18 sition Institute shall be appointed by, and report directly 

19 to, the Administrator. 

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

21 submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov22 ernmental Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations 

23 of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Gov24 ernment Reform and the Committee on Appropriations of 

25 the House of Representatives an annual report on the proVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:46 Apr 09, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S762.IS S762

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1 jected budget needs and expense plans of the Federal Ac2 quisition Institute to fulfill its mandate.’’. 

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

4 1122(a)(5) of such title is amended to read as fol5 lows: 

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

7 the Federal Acquisition Institute established under 

8 section 1201 of this title, including recommending to 

9 the Administrator of General Services a sufficient 

10 budget for such activities.’’. 

11 (c) GOVERNMENT-WIDE TRAINING STANDARDS AND

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

13 Code, is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (c)(2)— 

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

16 and inserting the following: 

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

18 shall’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(B) GOVERNMENT-WIDE TRAINING

21 STANDARDS AND CERTIFICATION.—The Admin22 istrator, acting through the Federal Acquisition 

23 Institute, shall provide and update Government24 wide training standards and certification re25 quirements, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) developing and modifying acquisi2 tion certification programs; 

3 ‘‘(ii) ensuring quality assurance for 

4 agency implementation of Government5 wide training and certification standards; 

6 ‘‘(iii) analyzing the acquisition train7 ing curriculum to ascertain if all certifi8 cation competencies are covered or if ad9 justments are necessary; 

10 ‘‘(iv) developing career path informa11 tion for certified professionals to encourage 

12 retention in Government positions; 

13 ‘‘(v) coordinating with the Office of 

14 Personnel Management for human capital 

15 efforts; and 

16 ‘‘(vi) managing rotation assignments 

17 to support opportunities to apply skills in18 cluded in certification.’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub20 section: 

21 ‘‘(l) ACQUISITION INTERNSHIP AND TRAINING PRO22 GRAMS.—All Federal civilian agency acquisition internship 

23 or acquisition training programs shall follow guidelines 

24 provided by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to 

25 ensure consistent training standards necessary to develop 


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1 uniform core competencies throughout the Federal Gov2 ernment.’’. 

3 (d) EXPANDED SCOPE OF ACQUISITION WORKFORCE

4 TRAINING FUND.—Section 1703(i) of such title is amend5 ed— 

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

7 the training of the acquisition workforce of the exec8 utive agencies’’ and inserting ‘‘to support the activi9 ties set forth in section 1201(a) of this title’’; and 

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

11 amounts collected for training under this subsection 

12 are not used for a purpose other than the purpose 

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

14 that amounts collected under this section are not 

15 used for a purpose other than the activities set forth 

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

17 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec18 tion, or the amendments made by this section, shall be 

19 construed to preclude the Secretary of Defense from es20 tablishing acquisition workforce policies, procedures, 

21 training standards, and certification requirements for ac22 quisition positions in the Department of Defense, as pro23 vided in chapter 87 of title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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