Title: Municipal Infrastructure Savings and Transparency Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Municipal Infrastructure Savings and Transparency Act
This bill grants an engineer for a public agency that receives funds from the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , or the Department of Agriculture (USDA), in accordance with state and local procurement requirements, maximum flexibility to select appropriate construction materials that meet the performance requirements of a public contract and that allows open and free competition among suppliers of construction materials, notwithstanding federal procurement requirements. A state or local government may not prohibit or restrict any such engineer from using a particular construction material.
The Department of Transportation, the EPA, the Corps of Engineers, and USDA shall establish an interagency task force which shall issue a comprehensive report on federally-funded infrastructure projects.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5310 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5310

  To waive certain procurement provisions for a project that receives 
                  funds from certain Federal agencies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 15, 2018

   Mr. Babin (for himself, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Norman, Mr. Higgins of 
Louisiana, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Yoder, 
 Mr. Sessions, Mr. Webster of Florida, Mr. Perry, Mr. Sanford, and Mr. 
   Chabot) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
 Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, Agriculture, and Energy 
    and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To waive certain procurement provisions for a project that receives 
                  funds from certain Federal agencies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Municipal Infrastructure Savings and 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. WAIVER OF CERTAIN PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding Federal procurement requirements, 
an engineer, in accordance with State and local procurement 
requirements, for a public agency that receives funds from the Federal 
Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental 
Protection Agency, or the Department of Agriculture shall have maximum 
flexibility to select appropriate construction materials that meet the 
performance requirements of the contract and that allows open and free 
competition among suppliers of construction materials.
    (b) Construction Material.--After the date of enactment of this 
Act, a State or local government may not prohibit or restrict any 
engineer referenced in subsection (a), from using a particular 
construction material. Before a procurement is made, a clear 
description of the performance requirements for construction materials 
shall be disclosed in the request for proposals.
    (c) No Restriction.--Nothing in this section shall limit the 
professional judgment of a project engineer to specify or select any 
acceptable material based on the performance requirements for a 
particular project.

SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment of Task Force.--Not later than 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation, the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall establish an interagency task force.
    (b) Comprehensive Report.--Not later than 1 year after the 
establishment of the interagency task force under subsection (a), the 
task force shall issue a comprehensive report that includes the 
following for federally-funded infrastructure projects:
            (1) Reviews of competition for materials in infrastructure 
        projects and how States are succeeding or failing in ensuring 
        that the bidding process allows for innovative materials to be 
        incorporated into new projects.
            (2) Identifies procurement practices at the State and local 
        level that are an artificial barrier to competition for new and 
        innovative materials.
            (3) Provides recommendations for eliminating any barriers 
        identified in paragraph (2) and how the Federal Government can 
        help ensure open competition and competitive bidding processes 
        for all materials used in federally-funded infrastructure 
        projects.
            (4) Reviews how States approve materials and make material 
        recommendations at the local level via pre-approved lists.
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