Granting the consent of the Congress to amendments made by Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact.
PL 104-322 (H.J.Res.194), enacted 10/19/1996

110 STAT. 3884 
PUBLIC LAW 104-322—OCT. 19, 1996 
Public Law 104-322 
104th Congress 
Joint Resolution 
O t 1
Q I
Q
Q
f
? 
Granting the consent of the Congress to amendments made by Maryland, Virginia, 
^ ' 
' 
and the District of Columbia to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regula-
[H.J. Res. 194] 
tion Compact. 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. CONSENT OF CONGRESS TO AMENDMENTS TO COMPACT. 
The Congress consents to the amendments of the State of 
Maryland (chapter 252, 1995 Acts of the Maryland General Assem-
bly and chapter 489, 1996 Laws of Maryland), the amendments 
of the Commonwealth of Virginia (chapter 150, 1995 Acts of Assem-
bly of Virginia), and the amendments of the District of Columbia 
(D.C. Law 11-138) of title III of the Washington Metropolitan 
Area Transit Regulation Compact. Such amendments are substan-
tially as follows: 
(1) Section 3 is amended to read as follows: 
"Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Zone 
Establishment. 
"3. There is hereby created the Washington MetropolitEin Area 
Transit Zone which shall embrace the District of Columbia, the 
cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax and the counties 
of Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoim and political subdivisions of 
the Commonwealth of Virginia located within those counties, and 
the coimties of Montgomery and Prince George's in the State of 
Maryland and political subdivisions of the State of Maryland located 
in said counties.". 
(2) Subsection (a) of section 5 is amended to read as follows: 
"(a) The Authority shall be governed by a Board of six Directors 
consisting of two Directors for each signatory. For Virginia, the 
Directors shall be appointed by the Northern Virginia Transpor-
tation Commission; for the District of Columbia, by the Council 
of the District of Columbia; and for Maryland, by the Washington 
Suburban Transit Commission. For Virginia and Maryland, the 
Directors shall be appointed from among the members of the 
appointing body, except as otherwise provided herein, and shall 
serve for a term coincident with their term on the appointing 
body. A Director may be removed or suspended from office only 
as provided by the law of the signatory from which he was 
appointed. The appointing authorities shall also appoint an alter-
nate for each Director, who may act only in the absence of the 
Director for whom he has been appointed an alternate, except 
that, in the case of the District of Columbia where only one Director 
and his alternate are present, such alternate may act on behalf 
PUBLIC LAW 104-322—OCT. 19, 1996 
110 STAT. 3885 
of the absent Director. Each alternate shall serve at 
the 
pleasure of the appointing authority. In the event of a vacancy 
in the Office of Director or alternate, it shall be filled in the 
same manner as an original appointment.". 
(3) Subsection (a) of section 8 is amended to read as follows: 
"(a) Four Directors or alternates consisting of at least one 
Director or alternate appointed fi-om each Signatory, shall constitute 
a quorum and no action by the Board shall be effective unless 
a majority of the Board present and voting, which majority shall 
include at least one Director or alternate fi-om each Signatory, 
concur therein; provided, however, that a plan of financing may 
be adopted or a mass tr£insit plan adopted, altered, revised or 
amended by the unanimous vote of the Directors representing any 
two Signatories.". 
(4) Subsection (b) of section 14 is amended to read as follows: 
"(b) It shall be the duty and responsibility of each member 
of the Board to serve as lisuson between the Board and the body 
which appointed him to the Board. To provide a fi"amework for 
regional participation in the planning process, the Board shall 
create technical committees concerned with planning and collection 
and analyses of data relative to decision-making in the transpor-
tation planning process and the Mayor and Council of the District 
of Columbia, the component governments of the Northern Virginia 
Transportation District and the Washington Suburban Transit 
District shall appoint representatives to such technical committees 
and otherwise cooperate with the Board in the formulation of a 
mass transit plan, or in revisions, alterations or amendments 
thereof.". 
(5)(A) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended 
to read as follows: 
"(1) The Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia, 
the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the 
Washington Suburban Transit Commission;". 
(B) Paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of section 15 is amended 
to read as follows: 
"(3) the transportation agencies of the signatories;". 
(C) The last paragraph of section 15 is amended to read as 
follows: 
"(b) A copy of the proposed mass transit plan, amendment 
or revision, shall be kept at the office of the Board and shall 
be available for public inspection. Information with respect thereto 
shall be released to the public. After thirty days' notice published 
once a week for two successive weeks in one or more newspapers 
of general circulation within the zone, a public hearing shall be 
held with respect to the proposed plan, alteration, revision or 
amendment. The thirty days' notice shall begin to run on the 
first day the notice appears in any such newspaper. The Board 
shall consider the evidence submitted and statements and comments 
made at such meeting and may make any changes in the proposed 
plEin, amendment or revision which it deems appropriate and such 
changes may be made without further hearing.". 
(6) Subsection (a) of section 70 is amended to read as follows: 
"(a) As soon as practiced after the closing of the fiscal year, 
£in audit shall be made of the financial accounts of the Authority. 
The audit shall be made by qualified certified public accountants 
selected by the Board, who shall have no personal interest direct 
or indirect in the financial affairs of the Authority or any of its 
Public 
information. 
Notice. 
110 STAT. 3886 
PUBLIC LAW 104-322—OCT. 19, 1996 
officers or employees. The report of audit shall be prepared in 
accordance with generally accepted auditing principles and shall 
be filed with the Chairman and other officers as the Board shall 
direct. Copies of the report shall be distributed to each Director, 
to the Congress, to the Mayor and Council of the District of 
Columbia, to the Governors of Virginia and Maryland, to the 
Washington Suburban Transit Commission, to the Northern Vir-
ginia Transportation Commission £uid to the governing bodies of 
the political subdivisions located within the Zone which are parties 
to commitments for participation in the financing of the Authority 
and shall be made available for public distribution.". 
(7) Section 73 is amended to read as follows: 
"Contracting and Purchasing 
"73. (a)(1) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (f) 
of this section, and except in the case of procurement procedures 
otherwise expressly authorized by statute, tne Authority in conduct-
ing a procurement of property, services, or construction shall: 
"(A) obtain mil and open competition through the use of 
competitive procedures in accordance with the requirements 
of this Section; and 
"(B) use the competitive procedure or combination of 
competitive procedures that is best suited under the cir-
cumstances of the procurement. 
"(2) In determining the competitive procedure appropriate 
under the circumstances, the Authority shall: 
"(A) solicit sealed bids if: 
"(i) time permits the soHcitation, submission, and 
evaluation of sealed bids; 
"(ii) the award will be made on the basis of price 
and other price-related factors; 
"(iii) it is not necessary to conduct discussions with 
the responding sources about their bids; and 
"(iv) there is a reasonable expectation of receiving more 
than one sealed bid; or 
"(B) request competitive proposals if sealed bids are not 
appropriate under clause (A) of this paragraph, 
"(b) The Authority may provide for the procurement of property, 
services, or construction covered by this Section using competitive 
procedures but excluding a particular source in order to establish 
or maintain an alternative source or sources of supply for that 
property, service, or construction if the Authority determines that 
excluding the source would increase or maintain competition and 
would likely result in reduced overall costs for procurement of 
property, services, or construction. 
"(c) The Authority may use procedures other than competitive 
procedures if: 
"(1) the property, services, or construction needed by the 
Authority is available fi*om only one responsible source and 
no other t5rpe of property, services, or construction will satisfy 
the needs of the Authority; or 
"(2) the Authority's need for the property, services, or 
construction is of such an unusual £uid compelling urgency 
that the Authority would be seriously injured unless the 
Authority limits the number of sources fi-om which it soUcits 
bids or proposals; or 
PUBLIC LAW 104-322—OCT. 19, 1996 
110 STAT. 3887 
"(3) the Authority determines that it is necessary in the 
pubHc interest to use procedures other than competitive proce-
dures in the particular procurement; or 
"(4) the property or services can be obtained through federal 
or other governmental sources at reasonable prices. 
"(d) For the purpose of applying subsection (c)(1) of this section: 
"(1) in the case of a contract for property, services, or 
construction to be awarded on the basis of acceptance of an 
unsolicited proposal, the property, services, or construction shall 
be deemed to be available from only one responsible source 
if the source has submitted an unsolicited proposal that dem-
onstrates a concept: 
"(A) that is unique Eind innovative or, in the case 
of a service, for which the source demonstrates a unique 
capability to provide the service; and 
"(B) the substance of which is not otherwise available 
to the Authority and does not resemble the substance of 
a pending competitive procurement. 
"(2) in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued 
development or production of a major system or highly special-
ized equipment or the continued provision of highly specialized 
services, the property, services, or construction may be deemed 
to be available from only the original source and may be pro-
cured through procedures other than competitive procedures 
if it is likely that award to a source other than the original 
source would result in: 
"(A) substantial duphcation of cost to the Authority 
that is not expected to be recovered through competition; 
or 
"(B) unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Authorit/s 
needs. 
"(e) If the Authority uses procedures other than competitive 
procedures to procure property, services, or construction under sub-
section (c)(2) of this section, the Authority shall request oflTers 
from as many potential sources as is practicable under the cir-
cumstances. 
"(f)(1) To promote efficiency and economy in contracting, the 
Authority may use simplified acquisition procedures for purchases 
of property, services and construction. 
"(2) For the purposes of this subsection, simplified acquisition 
procedures may be used for purchases for an amount that does 
not exceed the simpUfied acquisition threshold adopted by the Fed-
eral Government. 
"(3) A proposed purchase or contract for an amount above 
the simplified acquisition threshold may not be divided into several 
purchases or contracts for lesser amounts in order to use the proce-
dures under pgiragraph (1) of this subsection. 
"(4) In using simplified acquisition procedures, the Authority 
shall promote competition to the maximum extent practicable. 
"(g) The Board shall adopt policies and procedures to implement 
this Section. The policies and procedures shall provide for publica-
tion of notice of procurements and other actions designed to secure 
competition where competitive procedures are used. 
"(h) The Authority in its discretion may reject any and all 
bids or proposEils received in response to a solicitation.". 
(8) Section 81 is amended to read as follows: 
29-194 0 - 9 6 - 3 : QL 3 Part 6 
110 STAT. 3888 
PUBLIC LAW 104-322—OCT. 19, 1996 
"Jurisdiction of Courts 
"81. The United States District Courts shall have original 
jurisdiction, concurrent with the Courts of Maryland, Virginia and 
the District of Columbia, of all actions brought by or against the 
Authority and to enforce subpoenas issued under this Title. Any 
such action initiated in a State or District of Columbia Court 
shall be removable to the appropriate United States District Court 
in the manner provided by Act of June 25, 1948, as amended 
(28 U.S.C. 1446).". 
(9) Section 84 is amended to read as follows: 
"Amendments and Supplements 
"84. Amendments and supplements to this Title to implement 
the purposes thereof may be adopted by legislative action of any 
of the signatory parties concurred in by all of the others. When 
one signatory adopts an amendment or supplement to an existing 
section of the Compact, that amendment shall not be immediately 
effective, and the previously enacted provision(s) shall remain in 
effect in each jurisdiction until the amendment or supplement is 
approved by the other signatories and is consented to by Congress.". 
Approved October 19, 1996. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.J. Res. 134: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 142 (1996): 
Sept. 24, considered and passed House. 
Oct. 3, considered and passed Senate.