Date: 2002-04-09
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the leadership of the Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform on this important legislation. and I rise in strong support of H.R. 3921. the Acquisition and Streamlining Improvement Act of 2002. This bill extends for 2 years the ClingerCohen Acts successful pilot program for streamlined acquisitions of commercially available items. The landmark ClingerCohen Act recognized the value of these streamlined procedures in- its pilot program. They provide the foundation for establishing commerciallike responsiveness in this government when it buys commercial items. The streamlined procedures apply for purchases of $5 million or less when a contracting officer reasonably expects that offers in response to a solicitation will only include commercial items. They permit the use of shorter deadlines. fewer burdensome governmentunique requirements. and minimized administrative costs. In sum. they give contracting officers greater discretion to select the most advantageous offer for the government and to do so in a businesslike manner. This programhas been very useful in a number of different areas. For example. the Pentagon recently used this authority to expedite repairs after the tragic terrorism attack on September 11. DOD set a goal of having the Pentagon restored by this fall. the 1year anniversary of the attack. That is a very aggressive goal for such a complicated job. If one step in the process falls through. the entire project can fail. One significant step at the Pentagon has been the effort to quickly restore what DOD calls the critical pathway to the damaged wing. DOD used the ClingerCohen pilot program authority to buy routers and switches to reestablish the communications grid. Using conventional procurement procedures to buy this equipment would have added extra months and would have jeopardized the whole projects timely completion by the 1year anniversary. The ClingerCohen pilot program helped DODcut through the red tape of this crit~ical pathway and on many other projects in the reconstruction. It also provides strategic management tools that the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies need to establish key acquisition projects in the wake of terrorist attacks. Unfortunately. unless we act now. this important pilot program will expire at the end of this year. Governmentwide. we see Federal agencies continuing to grapple with barriers to buying the best value in the goods and services they need. Agencies need better .management approaches and improved purchasing tools. including the ClingerCohen pilot program authority. to help acquisition managers meet their agency goals. Indeed. the Office of Federal Procurement Policys survey of procurement executives showed that the streamlined acquisition authority in the ClingerCohen pilot has had a positive impact on the Federal procurement process. These procurement executives recommend continuing the program. The Subcommittee on Technology and Procurement Policy. which I chair. and the Committee on Government Reform. under the leadership of the gentleman from Indiana . have encouraged the development of commonsense approaches to acquisition policy. I have also been working in the subcommittee with the minority and with the administration for broader acquisition reform. I recently introduced H.R. 3832. the Services Acquisition Reform Act. SARA. which directs the Federal Government to adopt management reform techniques modeled after those of the private sector. I have also introduced H.R. 3426. the Federal Emergency Procurement Flexibility Act. with the gentleman from Pennsylvania . my good friend. Senator JOHN WARNER and Senator FRED THOMPSON. This legislation came about after we were contacted last year by Governor Ridge and the Homeland Security Office about many of the ongoing barriers Federal agencies are experiencing in accessing the tools necessary to fight the war on terrorism. This legislation will provide agencies with the tools necessary to immediately access the latest commercial technologies. products and services to combat terrorism. The bill before us today. H.R. 3921. the Acquisitions Streamlining Improvement Act of 2002. allows agencies to continue to use the ClingerCohen pilot program streamlined procedures for the purchase of commercial items. 0I 1430 Mr. Speaker. if an item is available commercially and at a competitive price. the government should not have to go through a long. drawnout procurement process. Where there are several competitors in a marketplace. and this competition is keeping prices in line. then streamlined acquisition procedures make sense. and save time and money. They make the government run smoother. In closing. I thank the gentleman from Indiana who introduced this legislation. I thank the ranking member of the committee. the gentleman from California . and the ranking member of the subcommittee. the gentleman from Texas . for working with us to make good.suggestions in moving this legislation forward. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.