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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Public Law 108-136

House Conference Report 108-354

SEC. 803. FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR ENHANCEMENT OF STATE AND LOCAL ANTI-TERRORISM RESPONSE CAPABILITIES.

(a) PROCUREMENTS OF ANTI-TERRORISM TECHNOLOGIES AND SERVICES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS- The Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy shall establish a program under which States and units of local government may procure through contracts entered into by the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security anti-terrorism technologies or anti-terrorism services for the purpose of preventing, detecting, identifying, deterring, or recovering from acts of terrorism.

(b) AUTHORITIES- Under the program, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security may, but shall not be required to, award contracts using the procedures established by the Administrator of General Services for the multiple awards schedule program of the General Services Administration.

(c) DEFINITION- In this section, the term `State or local government' has the meaning provided in section 502(c)(3) of title 40, United States Code.

The Senate amendment contained a provision (sec. 852) that would require the establishment of a program where state and local governments could buy anti-terrorism technology solutions from Federal Government contracts and, additionally, would authorize grants to local fire departments to hire personnel.

The House bill contained no similar provision.

The House recedes with an amendment that would split the provision into two sections. The amendment would require the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to establish a program under which states and local governments could procure anti-terrorism technologies or services through contracts entered into by the Department of Defense (DOD) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Under the direction of the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, DOD, and DHS would be authorized to award contracts using the same procedures as the multiple awards schedule program of the General Services Administration. The issue of the establishment of a grant program to assist local fire departments to hire personnel is addressed elsewhere in the conference report.

Senate Rpt.108-046

The committee recommends a series of provisions that would require the establishment of a program where state and local governments could buy anti-terrorism technology solutions from Federal Government contracts. The executive branch would be authorized to apply to these contracts discretionary indemnification authority (50 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.; Public Law 85-804) on a case-by-case basis, if it is determined necessary. The committee expects that the litigation risk for many of these technologies would be managed under authorities of subtitle G of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296). Contractors could be indemnified under procedures determined by the President only when necessary to ensure that critical technologies developed for the Department of Defense and other agencies could be rapidly purchased by state and local governments.