Several provisions of the Acquisition System Improvement Act ("ASIA") (H.R. 4228) which is supposed to modernize and streamline the process employed by the U.S. Government for the purchase of goods and services, are considered controversial. This latest effort at procurement reform by the House Government Reform Committee Chairman, Tom Davis (R-Va), is largely comprised of the provisions of last year's Services Acquisition Reform Act ("SARA") that were dropped from the 2004 Defense Authorization Act. Two provisions of ASIA have already been added to the House version of the 2005 defense authorization bill (H.R. 4200), but several other provisions remain controversial. These include the following:
- ASIA would consolidate the various agency boards of contract appeals ("BCAs") into two boards - one for civilian agencies and one for Defense. The Defense Board would be made up of judges appointed by the Secretary of Defense, while the Civilian Board would be comprised of judges appointed by the Administrator of Procurement Policy. The Bush administration supports Davis' efforts to consolidate the BCAs as evidenced by the instruction from OMB to the BCAs that they postpone filling all vacant judgeships until at least mid-August 2004.
- ASIA would establish additional share-in savings contracting initiatives pursuant to which agencies would be authorized to enter into share-in savings contracts for up to 10 years for procurements that improve an agency's mission-related or administrative processes or that accelerate an agency's ability to achieve its mission. Agencies would be required to employ performance based contracts to the maximum extent practicable in implementing this provision. Agencies would also be permitted to credit the savings realized to the appropriation or fund against which contract funds were drawn, and relevant funds would be available until they are expended.
In addition to the provisions that are expected to generate controversy, ASIA contains several other terms that propose to:
- Codify existing agency level protest procedures in a new section to be set forth at 10 U.S.C. § 2305b. Protests would be filed with an issuing agency, and contracts would automatically be stayed for 20 days pending the outcome of the protest unless urgent and compelling circumstances justified an override of the stay. This new section would not impact a contractor's right to protest to the GAO, but would preclude a concurrent filing at the Court of Federal Claims.
- Extend the commercial item test program until January 1, 2009.
- Mandate that agencies procure redundant telecommunications services including separate building entry points and physically diverse local network facilities so that damage to or failure of part of the system would not disrupt agency communications.
- Establish an acquisition professional exchange program between the public and private sectors.
In light of the summer Congressional schedule, the outstanding appropriations legislation, and the upcoming election, it is not clear whether there will be any movement on the passage of ASIA in the near term. However, given Mr. Davis' history of perseverance when it comes to acquisition reform, ASIA will likely remain on the legislative calendar for the foreseeable future.
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