May 2005 Government Affairs Update

 

IN THIS ISSUE …

 

1.       Federal Prison Industries Legislation.

2.       OMB Establishes Services Acquisition Advisory Panel.

3.       Surveying and Mapping Opportunities in Highway Bill.

4.       Review of Application of Brooks Act to Mapping Services.

 

Federal Prison Industries Legislation. The Senate recently introduced legislation which contains language to limit the activities of Federal Prison Industries in its competition with the private sector for federal contracts. The relevant language is part of S. 749 which will amend the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to establish a government-wide policy requiring competition in certain executive agency procurements.

The legislation takes away any requirements executive agencies may have had to use Federal Prison Industries as a subcontractor or supplier of a product. There is also a section in the legislation that comes, in part, from the lobbying efforts of ACSM members.  The relevant section states:

 

          (f) PROTECTION OF CLASSIFIED AND SENSITIVE INFORMATION.

                   The head of an executive agency may not enter into any contract with Federal Prison Industries under which an inmate worker would have access to:

(1)  any data that is classified or will become classified after merged with other data;

(2)  any geographic data regarding the location of –

(A)  surface or subsurface infrastructure providing communications or water or electrical power distribution;

(B)  pipelines for the distribution of natural gas, bulk petroleum products or other commodities; or

(C)  other utilities; or

(3)  any personal or financial information about any individual private citizen, including information relating to such person’s real property however described, without prior consent of the individual.

 

The legislation is sponsored by Senators Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow and Craig Thomas. ACSM has met with these Senators on a number of occasions, including last year’s Lobby Day and we pressed for language similar to the above language in FPI legislation. We will work with Congress to make sure this language stays in the legislation.

 

 

 

OMB Establishes Services Acquisition Advisory Panel.

The Office of Management and Budget recently established an acquisition advisory panel to review various aspects of government contracting. The panel is authorized by Section 1423 of the Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA), and is comprised of recognized experts in government acquisition, law and policy. Some of the topics the panel will examine include the use of commercial practices, performance based contracting, and government-wide contracts. The panel is required to submit a report to OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy and Congress within one year of its establishment.

 

Surveying and Mapping Opportunities in Highway Bill.

The long awaited highway bill, H.R. 3, an Act to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, is working its way through Congress. There is a section in the legislation relating to the procurement of surveying and mapping services for recipients of federal assistance under the legislation which requires that qualification based selection (QBS) be used as the selection process for work done on federally assisted projects. The relevant language is as follows:

 

Sec. 3025 Contract Requirements.

 

(a)  Competition – Recipients of federal assistance under this chapter shall conduct all procurement transactions involving such assistance in a manner providing full and open competition, as determined by the Secretary.

(b)  Architectural, Engineering and design Contracts. –

(1)  Procedures for Awarding Contract. – A contract or requirement for program management, architectural engineering, construction management, a feasibility study, and preliminary engineering, design, architectural, engineering, surveying, mapping or related services for a project for which federal assistance is provided under this chapter shall be awarded in the same way as a contract for architectural engineering services is negotiated under Chapter 11 of Title 40 or an equivalent qualifications-based requirement of a state.

 

Review of Application of Brooks Act to Mapping Services.

A Federal Register Notice was recently released regarding the application of the Brooks Act to mapping services. The Notice states that the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council have reviewed the public comments received in response to the request for comments on the application of the Brooks Architect-Engineers Act to mapping services. The Councils have determined that no change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is necessary.

 

ACSM is in the process of reviewing the Federal Register Notice. Look for more on this issue in future government affairs updates.