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Title XIV—Services Acquisition Reform

The Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 (SARA)

Public Law 108-136

House Conference Report 108-354

SEC. 1412. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND.

(a) PURPOSES- The purposes of this section are to ensure that the Federal acquisition workforce--

(1) adapts to fundamental changes in the nature of Federal Government acquisition of property and services associated with the changing roles of the Federal Government; and

(2) acquires new skills and a new perspective to enable it to contribute effectively in the changing environment of the 21st century.

(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND- Section 37 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 433) is amended by adding at the end of subsection (h) the following new paragraph:

`(3) ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND- (A) The Administrator of General Services shall establish an acquisition workforce training fund. The Administrator shall manage the fund through the Federal Acquisition Institute to support the training of the acquisition workforce of the executive agencies other than the Department of Defense. The Administrator shall consult with the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy in managing the fund.

`(B) There shall be credited to the acquisition workforce training fund 5 percent of the fees collected by executive agencies (other than the Department of Defense) under the following contracts:

`(i) Governmentwide task and delivery-order contracts entered into under sections 303H and 303I of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 253h and 253i).

`(ii) Governmentwide contracts for the acquisition of information technology as defined in section 11101 of title 40, United States Code, and multiagency acquisition contracts for such technology authorized by section 11314 of such title.

`(iii) Multiple-award schedule contracts entered into by the Administrator of General Services.

`(C) The head of an executive agency that administers a contract described in subparagraph (B) shall remit to the General Services Administration the amount required to be credited to the fund with respect to such contract at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year.

`(D) The Administrator of General Services, through the Office of Federal Acquisition Policy, shall ensure that funds collected for training under this section are not used for any purpose other than the purpose specified in subparagraph (A).

`(E) Amounts credited to the fund shall be in addition to funds requested and appropriated for education and training referred to in paragraph (1).

`(F) Amounts credited to the fund shall remain available to be expended only in the fiscal year for which credited and the two succeeding fiscal years.

`(G) This paragraph shall cease to be effective five years after the date of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004.'.

(c) EXCEPTION- This section and the amendments made by this section shall not apply to the acquisition workforce of the Department of Defense. Fees charged to the Department of Defense under contracts covered by section 37(h)(3) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as added by subsection (b), shall be reduced by 5 percent to reflect the Department's nonparticipation in the acquisition workforce training fund established by such section.

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 1412) that would amend section 37 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403) to establish within the General Services Administration an acquisition workforce-training fund to be managed by the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI). The fund would be financed by depositing 5 percent of the fees collected by various executive agencies under their government-wide contracts. This approach would provide the funding for FAI to develop training resources needed to support new acquisition initiatives. The fund would only be used for acquisition workforce training across civilian government agencies. This provision would not apply to the Department of Defense (DOD).

The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with a clarifying amendment that would exempt the DOD from making contributions to the workforce training fund and would include a five year sunset provision.

House Report 108-117, Part 1

The section would amend section 37 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 433) to establish within the General Services Administration an acquisition workforce-training fund to be managed by the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI). The fund is to be financed by depositing 5% of the fees collected by various executive agencies under their government-wide contracts. This will provide the stabilized funding needed by FAI to develop training resources needed to enable our acquisition professionals to
transition to the new service oriented and technology driven federal market. The fund can only be used for sorely needed acquisition workforce training across the civilian government agencies.