II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3101 

To reduce barriers to entry in Federal contracting, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2010 

Mr. TESTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To reduce barriers to entry in Federal contracting, 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 ‘‘Level Playing Field 

5 Contracting Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘executive agency’’ has the mean9 ing given the term in section 4 of the Office of Fed10 eral Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403). 


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1 (2) The term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

2 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Small 

3 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

4 SEC. 3. REDUCED BUNDLING OF FEDERAL CONTRACTS. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) COVERED CONSOLIDATED CIVILIAN CON7 TRACT.—The term ‘‘covered consolidated civilian 

8 contract’’— 

9 (A) means— 

10 (i) a multiple award contract valued 

11 in excess of $2,000,000; or 

12 (ii) a contract of an executive agency 

13 for property or services valued in excess of 

14 $2,000,000 that— 

15 (I) combines discrete procure16 ment requirements from 2 or more ex17 isting contracts; 

18 (II) adds new, discrete procure19 ment requirements to an existing con20 tract; or 

21 (III) includes 2 or more discrete 

22 procurement or acquisition require23 ments; and 


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1 (B) does not include any consolidated ac2 quisition, procurement, or contracting plan of 

3 the Department of Defense. 

4 (2) COVERED CONSOLIDATED DEFENSE CON5 TRACT.—The term ‘‘covered consolidated Defense 

6 contract’’ means— 

7 (A) a multiple award contract of the De8 partment of Defense valued in excess of 

9 $7,500,000; or 

10 (B) a contract of the Department of De11 fense for property or services valued in excess 

12 of $7,500,000 that— 

13 (i) combines discrete procurement re14 quirements from 2 or more existing con15 tracts; 

16 (ii) adds new, discrete procurement 

17 requirements to an existing contract; or 

18 (iii) includes 2 or more discrete pro19 curement or acquisition requirements. 

20 (b) RESTRICTION ON CIVILIAN CONTRACT BUN21 DLING.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Fed24 eral Acquisition Regulatory Council shall amend the 

25 Federal Acquisition Regulation to require that the 


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1 head of an executive agency may not enter into a 

2 covered consolidated civilian contract unless the sen3 ior procurement official for the agency determines 

4 that the consolidation of such contract is necessary 

5 and justified. 

6 (2) NECESSARY AND JUSTIFIED DETERMINA7 TIONS.— 

8 (A) REQUIRED CRITERIA.—In making a 

9 determination that a contract is necessary and 

10 justified pursuant to paragraph (1), the head of 

11 an executive agency shall— 

12 (i) identify the benefits anticipated 

13 from the consolidation; 

14 (ii) identify any alternative con15 tracting approaches that would involve a 

16 lesser degree of contract consolidation; and 

17 (iii) justify how the consolidation sub18 stantially exceeds the benefits of any alter19 native contracting approaches. 

20 (B) RESTRICTIONS ON BASIS OF DETER21 MINATION.—The head of an executive agency 

22 may not base a determination that a contract is 

23 necessary and justified solely on savings in 

24 agency administrative or personnel costs or lack 

25 of a sufficient procurement workforce. 


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1 (c) RESTRICTION ON DEFENSE CONTRACT BUN2 DLING.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary of Defense shall modify the Department of 

6 Defense Supplement to the Federal Acquisition Reg7 ulation to require that the head of an agency may 

8 not enter into a covered consolidated Defense con9 tract unless the senior procurement official for the 

10 agency determines that the consolidation of such 

11 contract is necessary and justified or that such con12 solidation is appropriate in the face of exigent cir13 cumstances and national security. 

14 (2) NECESSARY AND JUSTIFIED DETERMINA15 TIONS.— 

16 (A) REQUIRED CRITERIA.—In making a 

17 determination that a contract is necessary and 

18 justified pursuant to paragraph (1), the head of 

19 an agency shall— 

20 (i) identify the benefits anticipated 

21 from the consolidation; 

22 (ii) identify any alternative con23 tracting approaches that would involve a 

24 lesser degree of contract consolidation; and 


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1 (iii) justify how the consolidation sub2 stantially exceeds the benefits of any alter3 native contracting approaches. 

4 (B) RESTRICTIONS ON BASIS OF DETER5 MINATION.—The head of an agency may not 

6 base a determination that a contract is nec7 essary and justified solely on savings in agency 

8 administrative or personnel costs or lack of a 

9 sufficient procurement workforce. 

10 SEC. 4. QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATION 

11 OF CONTRACT BIDS. 

12 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

14 Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

15 to require the head of an executive agency— 

16 (1) to use a numeric grading or other quan17 titative methodology to evaluate bid proposals for 

18 each contract of such agency that is awarded 

19 through full and open competitive procedures; and 

20 (2) to disclose the methodology in the bid solici21 tation documents for the contract. 

22 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT OF LOCAL WORKFORCE REQUIRE23 MENTS. 

24 (a) GSA REPORT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an3 nually thereafter, the Administrator of General Serv4 ices shall submit to Congress a report describing ef5 forts to enforce the local workforce subcontracting 

6 requirements included in contracts entered into by 

7 the General Services Administration. The report 

8 shall include an assessment of the effectiveness of 

9 enforcement efforts related to such requirements and 

10 proposals to better enforce the requirements. 

11 (2) EFFORTS TO REMEDY NONCOMPLIANCE

12 WITH REQUIREMENTS.—If local workforce subcon13 tracting requirements have not been met in any con14 tract entered into by the General Services Adminis15 tration, the report required under this subsection 

16 shall include a description of efforts made by the 

17 General Services Administration to meet the require18 ments in such contract. 

19 (b) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

20 submission of the first report required under subsection 

21 (a), the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

22 submit to Congress a report commenting on the findings 

23 described in such report and including recommendations 

24 for further actions to ensure compliance with local work25 force subcontracting requirements. 


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1 SEC. 6. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENTS. 

2 (a) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 

3 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head 

4 of each executive agency shall submit to Congress a report 

5 evaluating the strength and sufficiency of its acquisition 

6 workforce. 

7 (b) CONTENT.—The report required under subsection 

8 (a) shall include— 

9 (1) a 30-year history of the size of the acquisi10 tion agency’s workforce; and 

11 (2) a description of measures the agency is im12 plementing to address any shortage of acquisition 

13 workforce personnel. 

14 (c) PUBLIC COMMENT.—In preparing the report re15 quired under subsection (a), the head of each executive 

16 agency shall solicit feedback regarding the agency’s acqui17 sition workforce, including through a public comment 

18 process. 

19 SEC. 7. USE OF PROCUREMENT ASSISTANCE RESOURCES. 

20 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

22 Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

23 to require executive agencies to take actions to encourage 

24 prospective contractors to utilize contracting assistance re25 sources that are offered in their communities. The Federal 

26 Acquisition Regulation, as so amended, shall include a reVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:39 Mar 11, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3101.IS S3101

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1 quirement that the bid solicitation documents for a con2 tract include language encouraging the use of such re3 sources. 

4 SEC. 8. IMPROVING OUTREACH TO SMALL BUSINESS CON5 CERNS. 

6 Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(q) SMALL BUSINESS OUTREACH PROGRAM.— 

9 ‘‘(1) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—The Adminis10 trator and the Administrator of General Services 

11 shall jointly establish an outreach program— 

12 ‘‘(A) to communicate with small business 

13 concerns regarding specific contracting opportu14 nities with the Federal Government; and 

15 ‘‘(B) to inform small business concerns 

16 about opportunities to learn about the process 

17 of contracting with the Federal Government. 

18 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not 

19 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

20 subsection, and annually thereafter, the Adminis21 trator and the Administrator of General Services 

22 shall jointly submit to Congress a report on the pro23 gram under this subsection that includes the number 

24 of small business concerns that entered into a con25 tract with the Federal Government for the first time 


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1 during the applicable year as a result of the pro2 gram.’’. 

3 SEC. 9. GAO REPORT ON FEDERAL CONTRACTS FOR SMALL 

4 BUSINESS CONCERNS. 

5 (a) STUDY.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

7 the United States shall conduct a study of changes 

8 in the definition of the term ‘‘small business con9 cern’’ and the size standards established under sec10 tion 3(a)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

11 632(a)(2)) during the 10-year period ending on the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (2) CONTENTS.—The study conducted under 

14 paragraph (1) shall, for each change in the defini15 tion of the term ‘‘small business concern’’ or the size 

16 standards established under section 3(a)(2) of the 

17 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)(2))— 

18 (A) analyze the size and number of small 

19 business concerns that— 

20 (i) did not qualify as a small business 

21 concern before the change; and 

22 (ii) entered into a contract with the 

23 Federal Government for the first time 

24 after the effective date of the change; and 


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1 (B) assess whether the ability of small 

2 business concerns that qualified as a small busi3 ness concern before the change to compete for 

4 contracts with the Federal Government was in5 hibited by the change. 

6 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

7 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 

8 the United States shall submit to Congress a report detail9 ing the results of the study conducted under subsection 

10 (a). 

11 SEC. 10. GAO REPORT ON POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO ENTRY 

12 IN FEDERAL CONTRACTING. 

13 (a) COVERED AGENCY.—In this section, the term 

14 ‘‘covered agency’’ means— 

15 (1) the General Services Administration; 

16 (2) the Army Corps of Engineers; and 

17 (3) the Department of Homeland Security. 

18 (b) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

19 States shall conduct a study examining the degree to 

20 which covered agencies have entered into contracts since 

21 January 1, 2004, with contractors that have previous ex22 perience performing Federal contracts. 

23 (c) REPORT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 


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1 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a re2 port on the study conducted under subsection (b). 

3 (2) CONTENT.—The report required under 

4 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 

5 (A) A description of the frequency with 

6 which covered agencies enter into contracts with 

7 contractors that have previous experience per8 forming Federal contracts. 

9 (B) An assessment, by year, from 2004 

10 through 2009, of whether the number of repeat 

11 contractors has increased or decreased in pro12 portion to the number of contractors awarded 

13 Federal contracts. 

14 (3) CONTRACTS COVERED.—The report re15 quired under paragraph (1) shall include informa16 tion on the awarding of contracts using full and 

17 open competition procedures and the awarding of 

18 sole source contracts. 

19 SEC. 11. GAO REPORT ON AWARDING OF FEDERAL CON20 TRACTS. 

21 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

22 States shall conduct a study on the size and experience 

23 of contractors awarded contracts by the General Services 

24 Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the 

25 Department of Homeland Security. 


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1 (b) REPORT.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

4 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a re5 port on the study conducted under subsection (a). 

6 (2) CONTENT.—The report required under 

7 paragraph (1) shall include, with respect to con8 tracts entered into by the General Services Adminis9 tration, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the De10 partment of Homeland Security on or after January 

11 1, 2000, the following information: 

12 (A) The number of contractors with fewer 

13 than 50 employees. 

14 (B) The number of contractors with fewer 

15 than 10 employees. 

Æ 


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