Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 856) to require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget conduct a review to determine the impact of the lowest price technically acceptable source selection process on national security, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 856

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act''. SEC. 2. REVIEW TO DETERMINE THE IMPACT OF THE LOWEST PRICE TECHNICALLY ACCEPTABLE SOURCE SELECTION PROCESS ON NATIONAL SECURITY.

(a) Review.--The Director shall review the procurement management practices of Defense and Civilian agencies to determine whether the provisions of section 15.101-2 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation have created any national security risk.

(b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit a report on the results of the review under subsection (a) to--

(1) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives; and

(2) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.

(c) Definitions.--In this section:

(1) Defense and civilian agency.--The term ``Defense and Civilian agency'' has the meaning given the term ``agency'' in section 133 of title 41, United States Code.

(2) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Speaker, the lowest price technically acceptable, LPTA, is a source selection method outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

This process uses price as a determining factor for a contract rather than other technical or operational factors.

Following legislative work done by the House Oversight Committee during the 115th Congress, constraints were placed on agency use of the LPTA in the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

These constraints recognize that the LPTA criteria are not always appropriate for agencies seeking complex or technically innovative services.

For instance, this can result in agencies sacrificing long-term value for short-term savings. We also do not want the LPTA to be used in a manner that jeopardizes national security.

This bill requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to evaluate this source selection process to determine whether agencies are using the LPTA in an appropriate manner.
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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act is measured and targeted legislation that can inform future congressional work on Federal procurement, a policy area we know is ripe for reform and taxpayer savings.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my House colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. COMER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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