Federal Acquisition Improvement Act of 1995

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Contract Formation

Subtitle A: Competition Statutes

Subtitle B: Truth in Negotiations

Subtitle C: Procurement Protests

Subtitle D: Policy, Definitions, and Other Matters

Title II: Contract Administration

Subtitle A: Contract Payment

Subtitle B: Cost Principles

Subtitle C: Claims and Disputes

Subtitle D: Miscellaneous

Title III: Commercial Items

Title IV: Simplified Acquisition Threshold

Subtitle A: Threshold Defined

Subtitle B: Inapplicability of Laws to Acquisitions At

or Below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold

Subtitle C: Simplified Procedures

Subtitle D: Micro-Purchase Procedures

Title V: Acquisition Management

Subtitle A: Pilot Programs

Subtitle B: Miscellaneous

Title VI: Other Procurement-Related Matters

Subtitle A: Standards of Conduct/Ethics

Subtitle B: Additional Amendments

Subtitle C: Intellectual Property

Title VII: Small Business and Socioeconomic Laws

Subtitle A: Small Business Laws

Subtitle B: Socioeconomic Laws

Title VIII: Defense International Trade

Federal Acquisition Improvement Act of 1995 - Title I: Contract Formation - Subtitle A: Competition Statutes - Part I: Armed Services Acquisitions - Subpart A: Competition Requirements - Amends Federal armed services law to revise competition and other contract requirements to provide for delegation of certain authority.

(Sec. 1002) Modifies approval levels for contracts.

(Sec. 1003) Defines advisory and assistance services.

Subpart B: Planning, Solicitation, Evaluation, and Award - Provides that nothing under any Federal law shall be construed to prohibit an agency from adding, deleting, or tailoring evaluation factors or specifications at any time up until the issuance of a request for final offers, when purchasing commercial items.

(Sec. 1012) Authorizes contracting officers to limit the competitive range if they make specified determinations.

(Sec. 1013) Provides for pre-award debriefings of excluded offerors.

(Sec. 1014) Establishes two-phase selection procedures.

Subpart C: Kinds of Contracts - Repeals certain fee limitations, as well as specified provisions relating to architectural and engineering services and employment of outside architects and engineers. Revises provisions applicable to contracts for architectural and engineering services and construction design.

Part II: Civilian Agency Acquisitions - Subpart A: Competition Requirements - Amends the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (FPASA) to revise competition and other contract requirements to provide for delegation of certain authority.

(Sec. 1052) Modifies approval levels for contracts.

(Sec. 1053) Defines advisory and assistance services.

(Sec. 1054) Allows justification for use of noncompetitive procedures in order to provide for continued occupancy of leased space.

Subpart B: Planning, Solicitation, Evaluation, and Award - Provides that nothing under any Federal law shall be construed to prohibit an agency from adding, deleting, or tailoring evaluation factors or specifications at any time up until the issuance of a request for final offers, when purchasing commercial items.

(Sec. 1062) Authorizes contracting officers to limit the competitive range if they make specified determinations.

(Sec. 1063) Provides for pre-award debriefings of excluded offerors.

(Sec. 1064) Establishes two-phase selection procedures.

Subpart C: Kinds of Contracts - Repeals certain fee limitations.

Part III: Acquisitions Generally - Repeals a Small Business Act provision for duplicative approval authority. Repeals provisions under the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act for an annual competitive report, a review of regulations for consistency with Federal acquisition regulation, and a biannual report on procurement regulatory activity.

Subtitle B: Truth in Negotiations - Part I: Armed Services Acquisitions - Amends Federal armed services law relating to truth in negotiations for armed services acquisitions to revise certain required regulations.

Part II: Civilian Agency Acquisitions - Amends FPASA provisions relating to truth in negotiations for civilian agency acquisitions to revise certain required regulations. Revises provisions relating to the status of certain Federal employees' health benefits contracts.

Subtitle C: Procurement Protests - Part I: Protests to the Comptroller General - Amends Federal law relating to money and finance to revise requirements that the Comptroller General rule on dispositive motions with respect to protests.

(Sec. 1202) Adds provisions relating to frivolous protests.

(Sec. 1203) Revises requirements relating to decisions on protests.

(Sec. 1204) Prohibits certain awards of costs unless the party has provided the agency a reasonable opportunity to provide relief pursuant to an established administrative procedure for resolution of protests that provides for review by a senior agency official and tolls protest stay periods during pendency of agency review.

(Sec. 1205) Provides for availability of funds following resolution of a formal protest or any administrative or judicial challenge.

Part II: Protests in the Federal Courts - Amends Federal law relating to the judiciary and judicial procedure to give the U.S. Court of Federal Claims exclusive judicial jurisdiction of federal contract bid protests. Amends Federal law relating to money and finance to declare that specified provisions do not give the Comptroller General exclusive jurisdiction over protests nor affect the right of any interested party to file a protest with the contracting agency or an action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Part III: Protests in Procurement of Automatic Data Processing - Amends FPASA to revise requirements relating to decisions on protests, and to add provisions relating to interlocutory appeals, suspension of procurement pending protest, dispositive motions, and frivolous protests.

(Sec. 1436) Prohibits certain awards of costs unless the party has provided the agency a reasonable opportunity to provide relief pursuant to an established administrative procedure for resolution of protests that provides for review by a senior agency official, and tolls protest stay periods during pendency of agency review.

Part IV: General - Amends the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (OFPPA) to add provisions regarding: (1) protests of procurements made through the Federal acquisition computer network under the simplified acquisition threshold; and (2) offeror statements to refrain from protesting procurements.

(Sec. 1443) Expresses the sense of the Congress that executive agencies should consider the establishment of their own administrative remedial procedures for the resolution of protests, and that protest stay periods should be tolled during the pendency of such procedures.

Subtitle D: Policy, Definitions, and Other Matters - Amends FPASA to: (1) repeal a multi-year limitation on inspection, maintenance, and repair; (2) authorize the Administrator of the General Services Administration to accept and pay for public utility services under a tariff at the lowest applicable rates, without entering into a contract; and (3) make specified funds available for procurement by contract for services of guards, elevator operators, messengers, and custodians without limitation.

Title II: Contract Administration - Subtitle A: Contract Payment - Part I: Armed Services Acquisitions - Amends Federal armed services law to add provisions for vestiture of title with respect to acquisitions.

Part II: Civilian Agency Acquisitions - Amends FPASA to add provisions for vestiture of title with respect to acquisitions.

Subtitle B: Cost Principles - Part I: Civilian Agency Acquisitions - Amends FPASA to make certain contracts for health benefits for Federal employees covered contracts for purposes of applicability of allowable cost principles.

Part II: Acquisitions Generally - Directs the Federal Acquisition Registry to identify those costs incurred with respect to a protest that are unallowable under covered contracts.

Subtitle C: Claims and Disputes - Amends Federal law relating to the judiciary and judicial procedures to divest Federal district courts of jurisdiction for Federal contract disputes subject to the Contract Disputes Act of 1978.

(Sec. 2252) Amends the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 to reduce from 12 months to 90 days the period for a contractor's filing for an action directly on the claim in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (in lieu of appealing the contracting officer's decision to an agency board).

Subtitle D: Miscellaneous - Amends Federal law relating to money and finance to eliminate specified provisions relating to accounting for advisory and assistance services.

Waives cancellation of funding for: (1) satellite on-orbit incentive fees; and (2) Navy and other Government shipbuilding and conversion.

Title III: Commercial Items - Amends OFPPA to revise a definition of commercial items.

Title IV: Simplified Acquisition Threshold - Subtitle A: Threshold Defined - Amends OFPPA to define simplified acquisition threshold as: (1) $100,000; or (2) $1 million for the acquisition of services, including construction, when the procurement is conducted as a small business set-aside and if supply items are expected to constitute less than 20 percent of the total value of the contract.

Subtitle B: Inapplicability of Laws to Acquisitions At or Below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold - Repeals a provision of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 relating to inapplicability of certain laws (the Miller Act) to acquisitions at or below the simplified acquisition threshold.

Subtitle C: Simplified Procedures - Amends OFPPA to: (1) repeal provisions for duplicative authority for simplified acquisition purchases; (2) conform procurement notice posting thresholds; and (3) provide exemptions from a wait period when using a detailed synopsis and from synopsizing requirements.

(Sec. 4205) Repeals a duplicative procurement notice provision under the Small Business Act.

Subtitle D: Micro-Purchase Procedures - Amends OFPPA to authorize purchases not greater than $2,500 without obtaining competitive quotations if the purchase price is considered reasonable (removing a requirement for contracting officer determination of this).

Title V: Acquisition Management - Subtitle A: Pilot Programs - Amends OFPPA to replace provisions for tests of innovative procurement methods and procedures with provisions for acquisition research demonstration projects in the form of agency test programs to determine whether a specified change in acquisition policies or procedures would result in improved Federal acquisition management.

Subtitle B: Miscellaneous - Amends the Department of Energy Organization Act to revise certain administrative procedures.

Title VI: Other Procurement-Related Matters - Subtitle A: Standards of Conduct/Ethics - Amends OFPPA to repeal specified provisions relating to procurement integrity. Adds provisions relating to penalties and administrative actions for cases of disclosing and obtaining contractor bid or proposal information or source selection information.

Subtitle B: Additional Amendments - Amends Federal armed services law with respect to the inapplicability of a prohibition on gratuities.

Subtitle C: Intellectual Property - Amends the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 to revise provisions for cooperative research and development agreements. Adds provisions for Federal agencies to negotiate licensing agreements for copyrights owned by, or voluntarily assigned to, the Government.

(Sec. 6101) Adds provisions for Federal agency claims of copyright of certain computer programs.

Revises provisions for distribution of royalties received by Federal agencies.

(Sec. 6102) Revises employee activities provisions to authorize Federal agencies to allow Government employee authors of computer programs to acquire title to copyright, subject to certain conditions.

(Sec. 6103) Amends Federal copyright law to provide an exception to the prohibition on copyright protection for works of the Federal Government.

(Sec. 6104) Amends Federal patent law to revise provisions relating to patent rights in inventions made with Federal assistance.

Title VII: Small Business and Socioeconomic Laws - Subtitle A: Small Business Laws - Amends the Small Business Act to add provisions relating to direct contracting with certain program participant companies and to small business subcontracting plans, and to revise a reporting requirement on the number of small business subcontract awards.

(Sec. 7004) Repeals: (1) the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act of 1988; (2) a program for manufacturing contracts through manufacturing application and education centers; and (3) a pilot program for very small business concerns.

Subtitle B: Socioeconomic Laws - Repeals the Walsh-Healey Act (relating to public contracts).

(Sec. 7102) Amends the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to: (1) revise provisions relating to biennial reports on Federal procurement; and (2) remove certain provisions relating to requirements for certification and verification.

Title VIII: Defense International Trade - Amends Federal law relating to arms export control and foreign military sales authorizations with respect to U.S. companies' competitiveness and the reduction or waiver of certain charges.