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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. 1428. AUTHORIZATION OF TELECOMMUTING FOR FEDERAL CONTRACTORS.

(a) AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION- Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation issued in accordance with sections 6 and 25 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 405 and 421) to permit telecommuting by employees of Federal Government contractors in the performance of contracts entered into with executive agencies.

(b) CONTENT OF AMENDMENT- The regulation issued pursuant to subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, provide that solicitations for the acquisition of property or services may not set forth any requirement or evaluation criteria that would--

(1) render an offeror ineligible to enter into a contract on the basis of the inclusion of a plan of the offeror to permit the offeror's employees to telecommute, unless the contracting officer concerned first determines that the requirements of the agency, including security requirements, cannot be met if the telecommuting is permitted and documents in writing the basis for that determination; or

(2) reduce the scoring of an offer on the basis of the inclusion in the offer of a plan of the offeror to permit the offeror's employees to telecommute, unless the contracting officer concerned first determines that the requirements of the agency, including security requirements, would be adversely impacted if telecommuting is permitted and documents in writing the basis for that determination.

(c) DEFINITION- In this section, the term `executive agency' has the meaning given that term in section 4(1) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(1)).

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 1429) that would require the federal acquisition regulations to provide that solicitations for federal contracts should not contain any requirement or evaluation criteria that would render an offeror ineligible or would reduce the scoring of the offeror's proposal based upon the offeror's inclusion of a plan to allow its employees to telecommute, unless the contracting officer determines in writing that the needs of the agency could not be met if telecommuting is permitted. This provision would also require the Comptroller General to report to the Congress on the implementation.

The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with a clarifying amendment. The provision would also eliminate the requirement for a report by the Comptroller General.

House Report 108-117, Part 1

The section would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide that solicitations for federal contracts should not contain any requirement or evaluation criteria that would render an offeror ineligible for award or would reduce the scoring of the offeror’s proposal based upon the offeror’s inclusion of a plan to allow its employees to telecommute unless the contracting officer first determines in writing that the needs of the agency, including security needs, could not be meet without the requirement. The General Accounting Office would report to Congress on the implementation one year after the FAR amendment is published.