I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1444 
To amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of reverse auctions 
for procurements of covered contracts. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 18, 2015 
Mr. HANNA (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, and Ms. MENG) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of 
reverse auctions for procurements of covered contracts. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commonsense Con-
tracting Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that, when used appro-
priately, reverse auctions may improve the Federal Gov-
ernment’s procurement of commercially available commod-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
ities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and im-
proving opportunities for small businesses. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON REVERSE AUCTIONS FOR COV-
ERED CONTRACTS. 
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 
amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 47 (15 U.S.C. 631 
note) as section 48; and 
(2) by inserting after section 46 the following 
new section: 
‘‘SEC. 47. REVERSE AUCTIONS PROHIBITED FOR COVERED 
CONTRACTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a covered contract 
described in subsection (c), reverse auction methods may 
not be used if the award of the 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. 
‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS ON USING REVERSE AUCTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) DECISIONS
REGARDING
USE
OF
A
RE-
VERSE AUCTION.—The following decisions are the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
responsibility of the contracting officer and may not 
be delegated to any person except for another con-
tracting officer who meets the training requirements 
of paragraph (2): 
‘‘(A) A decision to use reverse auction 
methods as part of the competition for award of 
a covered contract. 
‘‘(B) Any decision made after the decision 
described in subsection (A) regarding the ap-
propriate evaluation criteria, the inclusion of 
vendors, the acceptability of vendor submissions 
(including decisions regarding timeliness), and 
the selection of the winner. 
‘‘(2) TRAINING REQUIRED.—Only a contracting 
officer who has received training on the appropriate 
use and supervision of reverse auction methods of 
contracting may supervise or use such methods in a 
procurement for a covered contract. The training 
shall be provided by, or similar to the training pro-
vided by, the Defense Acquisition University as de-
scribed in section 824 of the Carl Levin and Howard 
P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291). 
‘‘(3) NUMBER
OF
OFFERS; 
REVISIONS
TO 
BIDS.—A Federal agency may not award a covered 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
contract using a reverse auction method if only one 
offer is received or if 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 a covered contract using a 
reverse auction method shall evaluate the technical 
acceptability of offers only as technically acceptable 
or unacceptable. 
‘‘(5) USE
OF
PRICE
RANKINGS.—A Federal 
agency may not award a covered contract using a re-
verse auction method if at any time during the 
award process the Federal agency misinforms an of-
feror about the price ranking of the offeror’s last 
offer submitted in relation to offers submitted by 
other offerors. 
‘‘(6) USE OF THIRD-PARTY AGENTS.—If a Fed-
eral agency uses a third party agent to assist with 
the award of covered contracts using a reverse auc-
tion method, the Federal agency shall ensure that— 
‘‘(A) inherently governmental functions (as 
such term is used in section 2303 of title 41, 
United States Code) are not performed by pri-
vate contractors, including by the third party 
agent; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(A) for design and construction services; 
‘‘(B) for goods purchased to protect Fed-
eral 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 responsi-
bility; or 
‘‘(ii) if awarding the contract requires 
the contracting officer to conduct discus-
sions with the offerors about their offer. 
‘‘(3) DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES.— 
The term ‘design and construction services’ means— 
‘‘(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 res-
toration projects; 
‘‘(E) delivery and supply of construction 
materials to construction sites; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
‘‘(F) construction, alteration, or repair, in-
cluding painting and decorating, of public build-
ings and public works; and 
‘‘(G) architectural and engineering services 
as defined in section 1102 of title 40, United 
States Code. 
‘‘(4) REVERSE
AUCTION.—The term ‘reverse 
auction’ means, with respect to procurement by an 
agency, 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.’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:55 Mar 20, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H1444.IH
H1444
emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS