Government Downsizing, Performance, and Accountability Act of 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Saving the Taxpayers Money

Subtitle A: Specific Spending Cuts

Subtitle B: Reducing the Size of Government

Subtitle C: Eliminating Government Printing Monopoly

Title II: Streamlining the Federal Bureaucracy

Subtitle A: Department of Agriculture Reorganization

Subtitle B: Procurement Streamlining

Subtitle C: Other Streamlining Reforms

Title III: Improving Government Performance and

Accountability

Title IV: Improving the Legislative Process

Title V: Enforcement

Government Downsizing, Performance, and Accountability Act of 1994 - Title I: Saving The Taxpayers Money - Subtitle A: Specific Spending Cuts - Rescinds 7.5 percent of remaining FY 1994 appropriations for the legislative branch (except the House of Representatives and the Executive Office of the President).

(Sec. 1003) Amends the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to limit annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for Members of Congress to those for other Federal employees.

(Sec. 1004) Rescinds certain FY 1994 appropriations to provide for reductions in FY 1994 budgetary outlays for, and thereafter through FY 1996 sets general obligational limits on, various specified agency administrative expenses (except Department of Defense (DOD) and other specified expenses), as determined by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

(Sec. 1005) Makes specified rescissions in current FY 1994 appropriations for: (1) the Agency for International Development's (AID) Development Assistance Fund; (2) Department of State Diplomatic and Consular Programs; and (3) salaries and expenses of the United States Information Agency (USIA) and USIA's North/South Center.

(Sec. 1006) Raises the minimum threshold for application of the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act from $2,000 to $100,000 for Federal or District of Columbia contracts within the geographical limits of the 48 contiguous States.

Prohibits artificially splitting contracts above the $100,000 threshold into contracts smaller than $100,000 for the purpose of evading such Act.

(Sec. 1007) Permits the use of funds under the Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 1994 to implement or administer certain regulations pertaining to utilization of helpers on Federal construction projects subject to the Davis-Bacon Act.

(Sec. 1008) Amends the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 to phase-in through FY 1998 a ten percent reduction in Federal funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities.

Requires a phase-in of eight percent funding reductions for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

(Sec. 1009) Places a one-year moratorium on construction of new Federal buildings and agency leasing of building space, except construction of buildings primarily used for education, and certain pending projects.

Rescinds a specified amount of FY 1994 obligational authority from the Federal Buildings Fund for new construction and acquisitions.

(Sec. 1010) Makes specified rescissions of FY 1994 funding for: (1) the Appalachian Regional Commission; (2) the Legal Services Corporation; (3) community development block grant programs; (4) the Tennessee Valley Authority; (5) public housing; (6) the Economic Development Administration; (7) the International Developmental Association (IDA); (8) the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and (9) United Nations (UN) peacekeeping.

(Sec. 1012) Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to reauthorize at slightly increased levels and extend through FY 1998 the community development grant program for States, local governments, and Indian tribes.

(Sec. 1014) Replaces programs providing Federal assistance for the construction of new non-Indian-related public housing with a tenant-based voucher assistance program.

(Sec. 1016) Expands the program which assists Federal employees permanently disabled on the job in order to help them find new employment.

Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to expand the Federal Employees' Compensation Act Periodic Roll Management Projects to all offices of the Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Program.

Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1994 to impose limitations on the availability of funding for the IDA in FY 1994 and 1995.

(Sec. 1018) Amends the National Energy Conservation Policy Act to allow the use of any cogeneration process for other than federally owned buildings or other federally owned facilities when entering into contracts for achieving energy savings at Federal agencies.

(Sec. 1019) Amends the National Housing Act to revise mortgage refinancing provisions to authorize the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to use amounts recaptured under such provisions for the refinancing incentives and costs payments authorized under them.

Subtitle B: Reducing the Size of Government - Alaska Power Administration Sale Authorization Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Energy, in accordance with specified purchase agreements, to sell: (1) the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project to Alaska; and (2) the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project to the Anchorage Municipal Light and Power, the Chugach Electric Association, Inc., and the Matanuska Electric Association, Inc.

(Sec. 1101) Directs the Secretary to: (1) close out the Alaska Power Administration; (2) report to the Congress on the sales; and (3) return to the Treasury unused balances of funds appropriated for the Alaska Power Administration.

Repeals specified Federal law concerning water resources investigations in Alaska by the Secretary of the Interior.

(Sec. 1102) Rescinds a specified amount of funds available for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fleet for research.

(Sec. 1103) Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to phase-out and close certain Department of Veterans Affairs supply depots in New Jersey, Illinois, and California and transfer funding back to the Treasury.

(Sec. 1104) Repeals the State Justice Institute Act of 1984, thereby terminating the State Justice Institute.

Rescinds half the FY 1994 appropriations for salaries and expenses of the State Justice Institute.

(Sec. 1105) Eliminates the National Small Business Tree Planting Program.

(Sec. 1106) Amends Federal law to: (1) permit DOD to contract for certain non-core functions such as data processing, billing, and payroll; (2) authorize appropriations out of a special fund credited with a portion of the delinquent debts collected in order to improve debt collection activities; (3) allow the U.S. Customs Service to utilize private debt collection companies; (4) subject the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Customs Service to statutorily prescribed debt collection reporting requirements; and (5) repeal requirements pertaining to Department of Justice contracting for private legal services in connection with indebtedness cases.

Subtitle C: Eliminating Government Printing Monopoly - Government Information Dissemination and Printing Improvement Act of 1994 - Transfers the position of Superintendent of Documents (SD) and all its functions to the Library of Congress, to be carried out by an official of the same title under the direction of the Librarian of Congress.

(Sec. 1202) Revokes all existing authorized printing plant charters.

(Sec. 1203) Requires all Government publications to be available for use throughout the Government.

(Sec. 1204) Requires each department, agency, and other entity of the Government to: (1) establish a comprehensive inventory of its publications; (2) make it available via the electronic directory; and (3) furnish its publications to the SD.

(Sec. 1205) Imposes additional specified responsibilities on the: (1) Public Printer with respect to the executive and judicial branches; and (2) SD with respect to dissemination of Government publications.

(Sec. 1206) Requires the head of a Government department, agency, or entity to furnish any of its publications to the SD.

(Sec. 1207) Requires the SD to make Government publications available to designated depository libraries and State libraries.

Title II: Streamlining The Federal Bureaucracy - Subtitle A: Department of Agriculture Reorganization - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) consolidate field, regional, and national offices within the Department of Agriculture; and (2) reduce personnel in order to achieve a specified expenditure reduction by FY 2000.

Subtitle B: Procurement Streamlining - Replaces armed forces provisions giving preference to nondevelopmental items in supply procurements with provisions for the acquisition of commercial items (property regularly used by the general public or non-governmental entities for non-governmental purposes) in equipment or supply procurements. Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to develop and acquire non-commercial equipment or supplies only if no commercial items are available.

Makes cost accounting standards under the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (OFPPA) inapplicable to acquisitions of commercial items.

(Sec. 2052) Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (FPASA) to make similar changes with respect to civilian agency acquisitions.

(Sec. 2061) Amends OFPPA to raise the small purchase threshold (renamed the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT)) to $100,000. Makes the same change with regard to armed services acquisitions, except with regard to the contingency operation exception for certain contracts and purchases. Extends the new threshold under OFPPA to FPASA.

(Sec. 2066) Requires simplified procedures under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) for SAT acquisitions.

(Sec. 2068) Amends OFPPA and the Small Business Act to: (1) repeal references to "the small purchase threshold" and continue existing notice thresholds for procurements over $25,000 (except that the requirement to allow 30 days for bid and proposal submission would apply only to contracts or orders in excess of SAT); and (2) prescribe additional contents for notices with respect to contracts between $25,000 and $100,000.

(Sec. 2071) Exempts: (1) subject agency (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Coast Guard, DOD, and respective military departments) contracts below SAT from contingent fee certifications, prohibitions on limiting subcontractor direct sales and doing business with certain contractors, and requirements for audits, supplier and supply source identification, and use of U.S. vessels for supply transportation; (2) civilian agency contracts below SAT from similar requirements with regard to subcontractor direct sales; (3) prime contracts below SAT from procedural and other requirements of the Anti-Kickback Act of 1986; and (4) contracts below SAT from the Miller Act (MA), the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, Service Contract Act of 1965, and Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988, requirements regarding certain disabled veterans, and specified requirements under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Buy American Act, and Davis-Bacon Act.

Requires the FAR to provide various alternative payment protections, including payment bonds, for suppliers of labor and materials on certain contracts under MA.

(Sec. 2081) Requires the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to review the FAR to identify and amend regulations applicable to acquisitions below SAT.

Requires agency heads to take similar action with respect to applicable supplemental regulations, policies, and procedures.

Subtitle C: Other Streamlining Reforms - Amends the Copeland Act to require employers on contracts covered by the Davis-Bacon Act to certify compliance with applicable labor law standards at least once monthly, instead of weekly, to the Department of Labor.

(Sec. 2102) Consolidates into the Block Grants to States for Social Services program under title XX of the Social Security Act (SSA) various social services programs under the Community Services Block Grant Act, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, titles III (Grants for State and Community Programs on Aging) and VII (Nutrition Program for the Elderly) of the Older Americans Act of 1965, the State Dependent Care Development Grants Act, and the SSA title IV part A (Aid to Families With Dependent Children) program for at-risk children.

(Sec. 2103) Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) to revise the contractor system under Medicare, including eliminating the Railroad Retirement Board's authority to contract for processing the Medicare claims of railroad retirees, in order to provide for increased flexibility in contracting for Medicare claims processing.

(Sec. 2104) Amends SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) to restructure the current program for death information exchange: (1) to use, for example, a Federal Clearinghouse on Death Information as the vehicle for all such exchanges; and (2) in the case of individuals with respect to whom federally funded benefits are provided by (or through) a Federal or State agency other than under SSA, to require such agency to pay a set fee to cover all costs connected with the provision of such information for them.

Ends the exemption from Internal Revenue Code requirements for Social Security Administration sharing of State collected death information with Federal, State, and local agencies granted to two States under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.

(Sec. 2105) Amends SSA title II to earmark specified levels of administrative funding for continuing disability reviews of disabled beneficiaries.

(Sec. 2106) Amends SSA title XI to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use the Medicare and Medicaid Coverage Data Bank (renamed the Health Care Coverage Data Bank) to determine whether veterans receiving VA health care benefits have private insurance.

(Sec. 2107) Amends the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 to revise requirements for the management and disposition of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-held multifamily properties and mortgages.

Title III: Improving Government Performance and Accountability - Requires that all authorization and appropriation legislation contain performance goals for any programs they fund. Provides for waivers from such requirement under certain conditions.

(Sec. 3002) Amends Federal civil service law to: (1) link Federal within-grade pay increases to job performance; (2) provide for the modification of reduction-in-force (RIF) regulations to give an employee's efficiency or performance rating greater weight than tenure of employment and length of service during a RIF.

(Sec. 3003) Requires the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board to recommend comprehensive and uniform Federal accounting and financial standards to the Congress and the President.

(Sec. 3005) Revises current law regarding annual agency financial statements and agency audits, with changes requiring audited statements covering all accounts and associated activities of each office, bureau, and activity of the concerned agency.

(Sec. 3006) Amends the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) to: (1) make it a felony to lie on FECA benefit applications; (2) bar from FECA program participation those individuals convicted of defrauding it; and (3) generally cut off FECA benefits to individuals in correctional facilities who have been convicted of a felony.

(Sec. 3007) Allows Federal agencies to reduce employees or positions below mandated personnel levels.

Title IV: Improving the Legislative Process - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to require that each line-item in an appropriations bill and each tax expenditure in a revenue bill be enrolled as a separate bill to be presented to the President (effectively giving the President line-item veto authority over such measures while ensuring that the override provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply).

(Sec. 4002) Amends rule XVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate to allow a point of order against reception or consideration of any appropriations bill or amendment containing a provision that has not been previously authorized by law within the preceding five years.

(Sec. 4003) Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to make congressional consideration of emergency legislation subject to the same budgetary points of order and super-majority waiver requirements as other legislation.

Title V: Enforcement - Provides that none of the changes in direct spending and receipts resulting from this Act shall be reflected in OMB estimates under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act).

Directs the Director of OMB, upon enactment of this Act, to make specified downward adjustments in discretionary spending limits under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for FY 1994 through 1999.

Makes specified reductions in budget outlays and authority for the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Authorizes and directs each Committee on Appropriations to adjust its suballocations among its subcommittees for FY 1994 to reflect the lower allocations provided above.

Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to provide for the establishment of a defense firewall through FY 1998.