Increasing competition in Federal contracting

(a) Use of past performance (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue guidance, including examples and templates where appropriate, on— on the following: (A) when When a wider range of projects, such as commercial or including commercial, non-government, as well as and Government projects, should be accepted as relevant past performance, performance in order to have increased competition among eligible firms with capability to perform a requirement, such as a requirement without much precedent; precedent. (B) a A means by which an agency may validate non-government past performance references, such as by requiring an official of an entity providing that provides past performance references to attest to their authenticity and by providing verifiable contact information for the references; and references. (C) Any use of alternative evaluation methods other than past performance that may be appropriate for a requirement without much precedent, such as demonstrations and testing of technologies as part of the proposal process. (2) Supplement not supplant The guidance issued under required by paragraph (1) shall supplement existing Federal and agency policy and procedures for consideration of past performance and other evaluation factors and methods. (b) Enhancing competition in Federal procurement (1) Council recommendations Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall convene the Chief Acquisition Officers Council (in this section subsection referred to as the Council), Council) to make recommendations to identify and eliminate specific, unnecessary procedural barriers that disproportionately affect the ability of small businesses to compete for Federal contracts, with a focus on streamlining documentation and qualification requirements unrelated to the protection of privacy rights and civil liberties. (2) Consultation The Council shall obtain input from the public, including from the APEX Accelerators program (formerly known as Procurement Technical Assistance Center network) and other contractor representatives, to identify Federal procurement policies and regulations that are obsolete, overly burdensome or restrictive, not adequately harmonized, or otherwise serve to create barriers to the participation of small business participation businesses in Federal contracting or unnecessarily increase bid and proposal costs. (3) Examination of actions The Council shall consider the input obtained under paragraph (2) and any other information determined to be relevant by the Council to identify legislative, regulatory, and other actions to increase competition and remove barriers to the participation of small business participation businesses in the procurement process. Federal contracting. (4) Implementation Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, and other executive agencies as appropriate, shall implement the regulatory and other non-legislative actions identified under paragraph (3), as determined necessary by the Administrator, to remove barriers to entry for small businesses seeking to participate in Federal Government procurement. contracting. (5) Briefing Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall brief the relevant committees of Congress on the legislative actions identified under paragraph (3), (3) and the actions implemented under paragraph (4). (c) Consideration of cost-Efficiency cost-efficiency and quality The Administrator shall advocate for and prioritize contracting policies that ensure that cost-efficiency and quality of goods and services are key determining factors in awarding Federal contracts.