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Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105–261; 5 U.S.C.
3104 note).
(e) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report
on the study required by this section. The report shall
include—
(1) a description of the study;
(2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the cur-
rent utilization by the Department of Defense of the
laboratory personnel demonstration authorities set
forth in subsection (d); and
(3) such recommendations as the Comptroller
General considers appropriate for the effective use of
available personnel management authorities to ensure
the successful personnel management of the highly
technical and scientific workforce of the Department
of Defense laboratories.
(f) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES
OF CONGRESS DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate committees
of Congress’’ means—
(1) the Committees on Armed Services, Appro-
priations, and Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate; and
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(2) the Committees on Armed Services, Appro-
priations, and Government Reform of the House of
Representatives.
SEC. 1109. BID PROTESTS BY FEDERAL EMPLOYEES IN AC-
TIONS UNDER OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET CIRCULAR A–76.
(a) ELIGIBILITY TO PROTEST.—(1) Section 3551(2) of
title 31, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(2) The term ‘interested party’—
‘‘(A) with respect to a contract or a solicita-
tion or other request for offers described in para-
graph (1), means an actual or prospective bidder
or offeror whose direct economic interest would
be affected by the award of the contract or by
failure to award the contract; and
‘‘(B) with respect to a public-private com-
petition conducted under Office of Management
and Budget Circular A–76 regarding perform-
ance of an activity or function of a Federal
agency, includes—
‘‘(i) any official who submitted the
agency tender in such competition; and
‘‘(ii) any one person who, for the pur-
pose of representing them in a protest under
this subchapter that relates to such competi-
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tion, has been designated as their agent by
a majority of the employees of such Federal
agency who are engaged in the performance
of such activity or function.’’.
(2)(A) Subchapter V of chapter 35 of such title is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 3557. Expedited action in protests for Public-Pri-
vate competitions
‘‘For protests in cases of public-private competitions
conducted under Office of Management and Budget Cir-
cular A–76 regarding performance of an activity or func-
tion of Federal agencies, the Comptroller General shall ad-
minister the provisions of this subchapter in a manner best
suited for expediting final resolution of such protests and
final action in such competitions.’’.
(B) The chapter analysis at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 3556 the following new item:
‘‘3557. Expedited action in protests for public-private competitions.’’.
(b) RIGHT TO INTERVENE IN CIVIL ACTION.—Section
1491(b) of title 28, United States Code, is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(5) If a private sector interested party commences an
action described in paragraph (1) in the case of a public-
private competition conducted under Office of Management
and Budget Circular A–76 regarding performance of an ac-