A bill to amend title 40, United States Code, to provide requirements for the disposal of surplus Federal property relating to review of bidders and post-sale responsibilities.

To amend title 40, United States Code, to provide requirements for the disposal of surplus Federal property relating to review of bidders and post-sale responsibilities. 1. Modifications relating to method of disposition of surplus Federal property and subsequent responsibilities Section 543 of title 40, United States Code, is amended— (1) in the first sentence, by striking An executive (a) In general The Administrator of General Services or an executive ; (2) in the second sentence— (A) by striking it considers (B) by striking The agency (b) Disposal actions (1) Documentation The Administrator of General Services or an executive agency ; and (3) in subsection (b) (as designated by paragraph (2)(B)), by adding at the end the following: (2) Observations of bidder For purposes of ensuring settlement of a loan used for the purchase by a member of the public of any Federal real property with a significant health or safety concern sold by the General Services Administration under this chapter, the Administrator of General Services shall— (A) during the course of the ordinary bidding process, identify, to the best of the ability of the Administrator of General Services, whether any obvious and significant indication is present that the purchaser is not capable of— (i) settling the loan obligation; or (ii) removing any health or safety conditions; and (B) if such an obvious and significant indication is identified— (i) document the indication; and (ii) disallow sale of the Federal property to the prospective purchaser. (3) Asbestos (A) Definition of asbestos-affected property In this paragraph, the term asbestos-affected property (i) is sold by the General Services Administration under this chapter after April 30, 2013; and (ii) contains— (I) friable asbestos; and (II) a significant overall quantity of asbestos, such that damage inflicted on the Federal property by a natural disaster would cause significant damage to the public due to the quantity of asbestos. (B) Responsibility In the event that an immediate or subsequent purchaser of an asbestos-affected property is a debtor (as defined in section 101 of title 11, United States Code), and transfers any portion of the asbestos-affected property with significant quantities of unabated asbestos to a unit of State or local government, on request by that unit of government, the Administrator of General Services shall coordinate with other Federal agencies to identify funding resources for the purpose of asbestos abatement if that unit of government submits the request to the Administrator of General Services not later than 20 years after the date of the initial sale of the real property by the General Services Administration. .

Summary: This bill requires the General Services Administration (GSA), for the purpose of ensuring settlement of a loan that was used by a member of the public to purchase federal real property that has a significant health or safety concern: (1) to identify, during the course of the ordinary bidding process, whether there is any obvious and significant indication that the prospective purchaser is incapable of settling the loan obligation or removing any health or safety conditions; and (2) if such an indication is identified, to document it and disallow the sale. If an immediate or subsequent purchaser of an asbestos-affected federal property is a debtor and transfers any of the property having significant quantities of unabated asbestos to a state or local government, GSA shall coordinate with other federal agencies to identify funding resources for asbestos abatement if such government submits a request for such coordination within 20 years after the initial sale of the affected property by the GSA. The bill defines "asbestos-affected property" as any federal property sold by the GSA after April 30, 2013, that contains friable asbestos and a significant overall quantity of asbestos, such that damage inflicted on the property by a natural disaster would cause significant damage to the public.