FIT Procurement Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4123 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4123

   To improve Federal technology procurement, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2025

 Mr. Burlison (for himself, Mr. Subramanyam, Mrs. Luna, and Mr. Lynch)
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
 Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on
   Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To improve Federal technology procurement, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Federal Improvement in Technology
Procurement Act'' or the ``FIT Procurement Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Acquisition workforce.--The term ``acquisition
        workforce'' means employees of an executive agency who are
        responsible for procurement, contracting, program or project
        management that involves the performance of acquisition-related
        functions, or others as designated by the Chief Acquisition
        Officer, senior procurement executive, or head of the
        contracting activity.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
        Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.
            (3) Chief acquisition officer.--The term ``Chief
        Acquisition Officer'' means a Chief Acquisition Officer
        appointed pursuant to section 1702 of title 41, United States
        Code.
            (4) Cross-functional.--The term ``cross-functional'' means
        a structure in which individuals with different functional
        expertise or from different areas of an organization work
        together as a team.
            (5) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has
        the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United
        States Code.
            (6) Experiential learning.--The term ``experiential
        learning'' means on-the-job experiences or simulations that
        serve to enhance workforce professional skills.
            (7) Information and communications technology.--The term
        ``information and communications technology''--
                    (A) has the meaning given the term in section
                4713(k) of title 41, United States Code; and
                    (B) includes information and communications
                technologies covered by any definition contained in the
                Federal Acquisition Regulation, including a definition
                added after the date of the enactment of this Act by
                the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council pursuant to
                notice and comment.
            (8) Relevant committees of congress.--The term ``relevant
        committees of Congress'' means the Committee on Homeland
        Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
        Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of
        Representatives.
            (9) Senior procurement executive.--The term ``senior
        procurement executive'' means a senior procurement executive
        designated pursuant to section 1702(c) of title 41, United
        States Code.
            (10) Small business.--The term ``small business'' has the
        meaning given the term ``small business concern'' in section 3
        of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

SEC. 3. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE.

    (a) Experiential Learning.--Not later than 18 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Institute shall
establish a pilot program to consider the incorporation of experiential
learning into the Federal Credentials Program, the Federal Acquisition
Certification-Contracting Officer's Representative Program, and the
Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers
Program, or any successor program.
    (b) Training on Information and Communications Technology
Acquisition.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
        the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Federal
        Acquisition Institute, in coordination with the Administrator,
        the Administrator of General Services, and the Administrator of
        the Office of Electronic Government, and in consultation with
        the heads of other executive agencies as determined to be
        appropriate by the Director of the Federal Acquisition
        Institute, shall develop and implement or otherwise provide a
        cross-functional information and communications technology
        acquisition training program for acquisition workforce members
        involved in acquiring information and communications
        technology. The training shall do the following:
                    (A) Include learning objectives related to market
                research, communicating with industry and industry
                perspectives on the procurement process, including how
                investment decisions are impacted by Government
                communication and engagement, developing requirements,
                acquisition planning, best practices for developing and
                executing outcome-based contracts, and source selection
                strategy, evaluating proposals, and awarding and
                administering contracts for information and
                communications technology.
                    (B) Include learning objectives that provide a
                basic understanding of key technologies executive
                agencies need, such as cloud computing, artificial
                intelligence and artificial intelligence-enabled
                applications, and cybersecurity solutions.
                    (C) Include learning objectives that encourage the
                use of commercial or commercially available off-the-
                shelf technologies to the greatest extent practicable.
                    (D) Include case studies of lessons learned from
                Federal information and communications technology
                procurements and contracts, and related matters as
                determined to be relevant by the Director of the
                Federal Acquisition Institute.
                    (E) Include experiential learning opportunities,
                and opportunities to practice acquisition teaming
                involving collaboration of team members with varied
                relevant domain expertise to complete acquisition-
                related tasks, including tasks with accelerated
                timelines.
                    (F) Include continuous learning recommendations and
                resources to keep the skills of acquisition workforce
                members current, including tools that help adopt or
                adapt the use of innovative acquisition practices or
                other flexible business practices commonly used in
                commercial buys.
                    (G) Be made available to acquisition workforce
                members designated by a Chief Acquisition Officer,
                senior procurement executive, or head of the
                contracting activity to participate in the training
                program.
                    (H) Inform executive agencies about streamlined and
                alternative procurement methods for procurement of
                information and communications technology, including--
                            (i) simplified procedures for certain
                        commercial products and commercial services in
                        accordance with subpart 13.5 of the Federal
                        Acquisition Regulation, prize competitions
                        under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act
                        of 2010 (Public Law 111-358), competitive
                        programs that encourage businesses to engage in
                        Federal research or research and development
                        with the potential for commercialization, and
                        joint venture partnerships;
                            (ii) innovative procurement techniques
                        designed to streamline the procurement process
                        and lower barriers to entry, such as use of
                        oral presentations and product demonstrations
                        instead of lengthy written proposals,
                        appropriately leveraging performance and
                        outcomes-based contracting, and other
                        techniques discussed on the Periodic Table of
                        Acquisition Innovations or other similar
                        successor knowledge management portals; and
                            (iii) information on appropriate use,
                        examples and templates, and any other
                        information determined relevant by the
                        Administrator to assist contracting officers
                        and other members of the acquisition workforce
                        in using the procedures described in clauses
                        (i) and (ii).
                    (I) Incorporate learning objectives to identify and
                mitigate waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure the
                protection of established privacy, civil rights, and
                civil liberties in the procurement process.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
        enactment of this Act, the Director of the Federal Acquisition
        Institute shall provide to the relevant committees of Congress,
        the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, and the Chief
        Information Officers Council--
                    (A) a report on the progress of the Director in
                developing and implementing or otherwise providing the
                information and communications technology acquisition
                training described in paragraph (1); and
                    (B) a list of any acquisition training that the
                Director determines to be outdated or no longer
                necessary.
            (3) Duration.--The training program shall be updated as
        appropriate, but at least every 2 years after implementation,
        and offered for a minimum of 6 years following the date of
        implementation of the training program.
    (c) Acquisition Workforce Training Fund.--Section 1703(i)(3) of
title 41, United States Code, is amended by striking ``Five percent''
and inserting ``Seven and a half percent''.
    (d) Harmonization of Acquisition Workforce Training Requirements.--
Section 2 of the Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition
Workforce Act (Public Law 117-207; 41 U.S.C. 1703 note) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ``Director.--The term
        `Director' means the Director of the Office of Management and
        Budget.'' and inserting ``Administrator.--The term
        `Administrator' means the Administrator of General Services.''.
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Director, in
                coordination with the Administrator of General Services
                and any other person determined relevant by the
                Director'' and inserting ``Administrator, in
                coordination with the Director of the Office of
                Management and Budget'';
                    (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ``Director'' and
                inserting ``Administrator'';
                    (C) in paragraph (5), by striking ``Director'' and
                inserting ``Administrator''; and
                    (D) in paragraph (6), by striking ``Director'' and
                inserting ``Administrator''.

SEC. 4. INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT METHODS.

    (a) Increase in Simplified Acquisition Threshold.--Section 134 of
title 41, United States Code, is amended by striking ``$250,000'' and
inserting ``$500,000''.
    (b) Increase in Micro Purchase Threshold.--Section 1902(a)(1) of
title 41, United States Code, is amended by striking ``$10,000'' and
inserting ``$25,000.''.
    (c) Advances for Commercial Technology Subscriptions and Tenancy.--
Section 3324(d) of title 31, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ``; and'' and
        inserting a semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or commercially available
                content'' after ``publication''; and
                    (B) by striking the period at the end and inserting
                ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) charges for information and communications technology
        subscriptions, reservations, or tenancy, which means the
        sharing of computing resources in a private or public
        environment, including cloud environments, for which the
        ordering agency defines appropriate access and security
        standards.''.

SEC. 5. 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--
                    (A) when a wider range of projects, such as
                commercial or non-government, as well as Government
                projects, should be accepted as relevant past
                performance, in order to have increased competition
                among eligible firms with capability to perform a
                requirement, such as a requirement without much
                precedent;
                    (B) a means by which an agency may validate non-
                government past performance references, such as by
                requiring an official of an entity providing past
                performance references to attest to their authenticity
                and by providing verifiable contact information for the
                references; and
                    (C) 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
        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
        referred to as the ``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 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 small business
        participation 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 small business participation
        in the procurement process.
            (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.
            (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), and the actions implemented
        under paragraph (4).
    (c) Consideration of 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.

SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION
              IN FEDERAL PROCUREMENT.

    Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
Congress and make publicly available a report that--
            (1) assesses the current level of small business
        participation in Federal procurement, identifying barriers,
        opportunities, and the impact of existing policies on the
        ability of small businesses to compete in Federal procurement;
            (2) catalogs and evaluates the effectiveness of programs
        intended to support small business participation in Federal
        procurement; and
            (3) analyzes trends in small business involvement in
        Federal technology projects, including data on contract awards,
        the diversity of sectors represented, and the geographic
        distribution of small business contractors.

SEC. 7. CONFLICT OF INTEREST PROCEDURES.

    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council and the Administrator
shall update the Federal Acquisition Regulation as necessary to provide
additional guidance to executive agencies to address personal and
organizational conflicts of interest involving members of the
acquisition workforce.

SEC. 8. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING.

    No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the
purpose of carrying out this Act.
                                 <all>