Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015

To amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for the procurement of covered contracts. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 2. Limitations on reverse auctions (a) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, reverse auctions may improve procurement by the Federal Government of commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses. (b) Limitations on reverse auctions The Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 631 et seq. (1) by redesignating section 47 as section 48; and (2) by inserting after section 46 the following: 47. Limitations on reverse auctions for covered contracts (a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term contracting officer (2) the term covered contract (A) for design and construction services; (B) for goods purchased to protect Federal employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians from bodily harm; or (C) for goods or services other than those goods or services described in subparagraph (A) or (B)— (i) to be awarded based on factors other than price and technical responsibility; or (ii) if awarding the contract requires the contracting officer to conduct discussions with the offerors about their offer; (3) the term design and construction services (A) site planning and landscape design; (B) architectural and interior design; (C) engineering system design; (D) performance of construction work for facility, infrastructure, and environmental restoration projects; (E) delivery and supply of construction materials to construction sites; (F) construction, alteration, or repair, including painting and decorating, of public buildings and public works; and (G) architectural and engineering services, as defined in section 1102 of title 40, United States Code; (4) the term responsible source (5) the term reverse auction (b) Prohibition on using reverse auctions for covered contracts In the case of a covered contract, a reverse auction may not be used if the award of the covered contract is to be made under— (1) section 8(a); (2) section 8(m); (3) section 15(a); (4) section 15(j); (5) section 31; or (6) section 36. (c) Limitations on using reverse auctions In the case of the award of a contract made under paragraphs (1) through (6) of subsection (b) that is not a covered contract, a reverse auction may be used for the award of such a contract only if the following requirements are met: (1) Decisions regarding use of a reverse auction Subject to paragraph (2), the following decisions with respect to such a contract shall only be made by a contracting officer: (A) A decision to use a reverse auction as part of the competition for award of such a contract. (B) Any decision made after the decision described in subparagraph (A) regarding the appropriate evaluation criteria, the inclusion of vendors, the acceptability of vendor submissions (including decisions regarding timeliness), and the selection of the winner. (2) Training required (A) In general Only a contracting officer who has received training on the appropriate use and supervision of reverse auctions may use or supervise a reverse auction for the award of such a contract. (B) Training The training described in subparagraph (A) shall be provided by, or similar to the training provided by, the Defense Acquisition University as described in section 824 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. Buck Public Law 113–291 (3) Number of offers; revisions to bids A Federal agency may not award such a contract using a reverse auction if— (A) only 1 offer is received; or (B) offerors do not have the ability to submit revised bids with lower prices throughout the course of the auction. (4) Technically acceptable offers A Federal agency awarding such a contract using a reverse auction shall evaluate the technical acceptability of offers only as technically acceptable or unacceptable. (5) Use of price rankings A Federal agency may not award such a contract using a reverse auction if at any time during the procurement process the Federal agency misinforms an offeror about the price ranking of the last offer of the offeror submitted in relation to offers submitted by other offerors. (6) Use of third-party agents If a Federal agency uses a third-party agent to assist with the award of such a contract using a reverse auction, the Federal agency shall ensure that— (A) inherently governmental functions are not performed by private contractors, including by the third-party agent; (B) information on the past contract performance of offerors created by the third-party agent and shared with the Federal agency is collected, maintained, and shared in compliance with section 1126 of title 41, United States Code; (C) information on whether an offeror is a responsible source that is created by the third-party agent and shared with the Federal agency is shared with the offeror and complies with section 8(b)(7); and (D) disputes between the third-party agent and an offeror may not be used to justify a determination that an offeror is not a responsible source or to otherwise restrict the ability of an offeror to compete for the award of a contract or task. .

Summary: Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 (Sec. 2) This bill expresses the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, with respect to federal agency procurement, an auction between a group of offerors who compete against each other by submitting offers for a contract or task or delivery order with the ability to submit revised offers with lower prices throughout the course of the auction (reverse auction) may improve the federal government's procurement of commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses. The Small Business Act is amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for certain Small Business Administration (SBA) federal procurement contracts (covered contracts) for: design and construction services; goods purchased to protect federal employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians from bodily harm; or goods or services other than these to be awarded based on factors other than price and technical responsibility, or if awarding the contract requires the contracting officer to conduct discussions with the offerors about their offer. This prohibition applies specifically to any covered contract to be made under the procurement programs for women-owned small business concerns and for small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, as well as under the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program. In the case of an award of a non-covered contract, a reverse auction may be used for the award only if specified decisions are made by a contracting officer trained on the appropriate use and supervision of reverse auctions for such contracts. A federal agency may not award such a contract using a reverse auction if: only one offer is received; offerors do not have the ability to submit revised bids with lower prices throughout the course of the auction; or at any time during the procurement process the federal agency misinforms an offeror about the price ranking of the last offer submitted by an offeror. (Sec. 3) If another applicable federal law or regulation permits the acceptance of a bond from a surety not subject to certain federal requirements for surety corporations, and is based on a pledge of assets by the surety, the assets pledged by such surety shall: consist of specified eligible obligations; and be submitted to the government official required to approve or accept the bond, who shall deposit the obligations according to specified requirements. The Small Business Investment Act of 1958 is amended with respect to any SBA guarantee or agreement to indemnify a surety under the Small Business Investment Program against loss from a breach of the terms of a bid bond, payment bond, performance bond, or ancillary bonds by a principal on any total work order or contract amount at the time of bond execution that does not exceed $6.5 million, as adjusted for inflation. Increases from 70% to 90% of the loss incurred and paid by a surety authorized to issue bonds (subject to SBA guarantee) the SBA's maximum obligation to pay the surety under the guarantee or agreement to indemnify.