(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Congressional findings. 
Sec. 3. Design-build construction process improvement. 
Sec. 4. Prohibition on the use of a reverse auction for the award of a contract 
for design and construction services. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The acquisition procedures that are often 
used effectively to procure products and other forms 
of services are not always appropriate for the pro-
curement of design and construction services. 
(2) Federal procurement officials often adopt 
contracting techniques from the private sector and 
have used those techniques effectively to procure 
products and services. 
(3) Design-build is a procurement technique 
Federal officials have adopted from the private sec-
tor that has worked well for the procurement of de-
sign and construction services. 
(4) The current statutory framework for de-
sign-build could benefit from legislative refinement. 
(5) Reverse auctions are another procurement 
technique Federal officials have adopted from the 
private sector and used successfully to award con-
tracts for the procurement of products that are com-
mercially equivalent to commodities. 
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(6) Despite their success in other contexts, re-
verse auctions are generally inappropriate for the 
procurement of design and construction services, 
given the unique nature of each such project. 
SEC. 3. DESIGN-BUILD CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IMPROVE-
MENT. 
(a) CIVILIAN CONTRACTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3309(b) of title 41, 
United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) CRITERIA FOR USE.— 
‘‘(1) CONTRACTS WITH A VALUE OF AT LEAST 
$3,000,000.—Two-phase selection procedures shall 
be used for entering into a contract for the design 
and construction of a public building, facility, or 
work if a contracting officer determines that the 
project has a value of $3,000,000 or greater. 
‘‘(2) CONTRACTS WITH A VALUE LESS THAN 
$3,000,000.—For any project that a contracting of-
ficer determines has a value of less than $3,000,000, 
the contracting officer shall make a determination 
on whether two-phase selection procedures are ap-
propriate for use for entering into a contract for the 
design and construction of a public building, facility, 
or work if— 
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‘‘(A) the contracting officer anticipates 
that 3 or more offers will be received for the 
contract; 
‘‘(B) design work must be performed be-
fore an offeror can develop a price or cost pro-
posal for the contract; 
‘‘(C) the offeror will incur a substantial 
amount of expense in preparing the offer; and 
‘‘(D) the contracting officer has considered 
information such as— 
‘‘(i) the extent to which the project re-
quirements have been adequately defined; 
‘‘(ii) the time constraints for delivery 
of the project; 
‘‘(iii) the capability and experience of 
potential contractors; 
‘‘(iv) the suitability of the project for 
use of the two-phase selection procedures; 
‘‘(v) the capability of the agency to 
manage the two-phase selection process; 
and 
‘‘(vi) other criteria established by the 
agency.’’. 
(2) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Novem-
ber 30 of 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, 
the head of each executive agency shall compile 
an annual report of each instance in which the 
agency awarded a design-build contract pursu-
ant to section 3309 of title 41, United States 
Code, during the fiscal year ending in such cal-
endar year, in which— 
(i) more than 5 finalists were selected 
for phase-two requests for proposals; or 
(ii) the contract or order was awarded 
without using two-phase selection proce-
dures. 
(B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
facilitate public access to the reports, including 
by posting them on a publicly available Internet 
website. A notice of the availability of each re-
port shall be published in the Federal Register. 
(b) GAO REPORTS.—Not later than 270 days after 
the deadline for each annual report under subsection 
(a)(2)(A), the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall issue a report analyzing the compliance of each exec-
utive agency with the requirements of section 3309 of title 
41, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1). 
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SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF A REVERSE AUCTION 
FOR THE AWARD OF A CONTRACT FOR DE-
SIGN AND CONSTRUCTION SERVICES. 
(a) FINDING.—Congress finds that, in contrast to a 
traditional auction in which the buyers bid up the price, 
sellers bid down the price in a reverse auction. 
(b) PROHIBITION.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation shall be amended to prohibit the use of reverse 
auctions as part of the two-phase selection procedures for 
awarding contracts for design and construction services. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘design and construction services’’ 
means— 
(A) site planning and landscape design; 
(B) architectural and engineering services 
(as defined in section 1102 of title 40, United 
States Code); 
(C) interior design; 
(D) performance of substantial construc-
tion work for facility, infrastructure, and envi-
ronmental restoration projects; 
(E) delivery and supply of construction 
materials to construction sites; or 
(F) construction or substantial alteration 
of public buildings or public works; and 
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