IB 
Union Calendar No. 535 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5199 
[Report No. 114–691] 
To amend title 41, United States Code, to improve the manner in which 
Federal contracts for construction and design services are awarded, and 
to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for design and construction serv-
ices procurements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 11, 2016 
Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
JULY 14, 2016 
Additional sponsors: Mr. MULVANEY and Mr. GROTHMAN 
JULY 14, 2016 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act 
of 2016’’. 
(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 procure-
ment 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 procurement of design 
and construction services. 
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(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 purchase of products that are commer-
cially equivalent to commodities. 
(6) Despite their success in other contexts, re-
verse auctions are generally inappropriate for pro-
curement 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 
$750,000 $3,000,000.—Two-phase selection procedures 
shall be used for entering into a contract for the de-
sign and construction of a public building, facility, 
or work when a contracting officer determines that 
the project has a value of $750,000 $3,000,000 or 
greater, as adjusted for inflation in accordance with 
section 1908 of this title. 
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‘‘(2) CONTRACTS WITH A VALUE LESS THAN 
$750,000 $3,000,000.—For projects that a contracting 
officer determines have a value of less than 
$750,000 $3,000,000, the contracting officer shall 
make a determination whether two-phase selection 
procedures are appropriate for use for entering into 
a contract for the design and construction of a pub-
lic building, facility, or work when— 
‘‘(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; 
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‘‘(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.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Novem-
ber 30 of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, 
the head of each agency shall compile an annual 
report of each instance in which the agency 
awarded a design-build contract pursuant to 
section 3309 of title 41, United States Code, 
during the fiscal year ending in such calendar 
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 
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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 the final reports required under sub-
section (f) of section 3309 of title 41, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a)(1), the Comptroller General of 
the United States shall issue a report analyzing the com-
pliance of the various Federal agencies with the require-
ments of such section. 
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 
Regulatory Council, in consultation with the Adminis-
trator for Federal Procurement Policy, shall amend the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation to prohibit the use of re-
verse auctions as part of the two-phase selection procedure 
for awarding contracts for construction and design serv-
ices. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 
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(1) the term ‘‘design and construction services’’ 
means— 
(A) site planning and landscape design; 
(B) architectural and engineering services 
(including surveying and mapping defined in 
section 1101 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 
(2) the term ‘‘reverse auction’’ means, with re-
spect to procurement by an agency— 
(A) a real-time auction conducted through 
an electronic medium among 2 or more offerors 
who compete by submitting bids for a supply or 
service contract with the ability to submit re-
vised lower bids at any time before the closing 
of the auction; and 
(B) the award of the contract, delivery 
order, task order, or purchase order to the of-
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Union Calendar No. 535 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5199 
[Report No. 114–691] 
A BILL 
To amend title 41, United States Code, to improve 
the manner in which Federal contracts for con-
struction and design services are awarded, and to 
prohibit the use of reverse auctions for design 
and construction services procurements. 
JULY 14, 2016 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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