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

Subtitle D--Accountability in Contracting

NDAA Section

House Conference Report 110-477

SEC. 844. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL DOCUMENTS FOR NONCOMPETITIVE CONTRACTS.

(a) Civilian Agency Contracts-

(1) IN GENERAL- Section 303 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (41 U.S.C. 253) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(j)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), in the case of a procurement permitted by subsection (c), the head of an executive agency shall make publicly available, within 14 days after the award of the contract, the documents containing the justification and approval required by subsection (f)(1) with respect to the procurement.

`(B) In the case of a procurement permitted by subsection (c)(2), subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting `30 days' for `14 days'.

`(2) The documents shall be made available on the website of the agency and through a government-wide website selected by the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.

`(3) This subsection does not require the public availability of information that is exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code.'.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 303(f) of such Act is amended--

(A) by striking paragraph (4); and

(B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (4).

(b) Defense Agency Contracts-

(1) IN GENERAL- Section 2304 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(l)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), in the case of a procurement permitted by subsection (c), the head of an agency shall make publicly available, within 14 days after the award of the contract, the documents containing the justification and approval required by subsection (f)(1) with respect to the procurement.

`(B) In the case of a procurement permitted by subsection (c)(2), subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting `30 days' for `14 days'.

`(2) The documents shall be made available on the website of the agency and through a government-wide website selected by the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.

`(3) This subsection does not require the public availability of information that is exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5.'.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 2304(f) of such title is amended--

(A) by striking paragraph (4); and

(B) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively.

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 823) that would require public disclosure of justification and approval documents for noncompetitive contracts.

The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with an amendment that would require the disclosure of such documents through appropriate websites, rather than through the Federal Procurement Data System.

House Armed Services Committee Report 110-146

SECTION 823--PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL DOCUMENTS FOR NON-COMPETITIVE CONTRACTS

This section would require the head of an executive agency to make certain justification and approval documents relating to the use of noncompetitive procedures in contracting available on the website of the agency and through the Federal Procurement Data System within 14 days of contract award. In the case of noncompetitive contracts awarded on the basis of urgent and compelling needs, the documents would have to be posted within 30 days. The Competition in Contracting Act (Public Law 98-369) already requires that such justification and approval documents be made available for inspection by the public, subject to the exemptions from public disclosure provided in the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).