Congressman Tom Davis Briefs Holland & Knight On Upcoming Legislation
September 27, 2001
Lawyers in Holland & Knight Government Contracts and Public Law groups
were honored to meet with Congressman Tom Davis (R-Va) at the firm’s annual
all-attorneys meeting. A leader in procurement reform, Representative Davis
heads the Technology and Procurement Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee
on Government Reform Committee and is a key member of the Republican leadership
in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Congressman provided his views on a
number of issues that could significantly impact the federal procurement
community.
Congressman Davis discussed the hearings he recently chaired on the
intellectual property rights retained by the government under its contracts and
suggested some legislative changes that might be implemented. He also expressed
his concern with the Truthfulness, Responsibility and Accountability in
Contracting Act (the TRAC Act). Congressman Davis pointed out that the TRAC Act,
though ostensibly an effort at government reform, would in practice cripple the
federal procurement process by making it more difficult to contract out
government work.
Congressman Davis also briefed the group on the Service Acquisition Reform
Act (SARA), which Congressman Davis expects to introduce this fall. Building on
earlier reform legislation, SARA will seek to fill a number of gaps in the
current procurement structure. The proposed legislation, which will focus on
services contracting, would:
- ensure
government funding for training of the acquisition workforce, by drawing on
excess fees collected on the GSA schedules and other governmentwide contracts
- broaden the
definition of "commercial services" under the Federal Acquisition
Regulation, to make it easier for agencies to contract for commercial services
- allow state
and local governments to purchase information technology (IT) goods and services
directly from the GSA schedules, using "cooperative purchasing"
- seek an
exemption from the Buy American Act and the Trade Agreements Act for IT products
- endorse the
use of share-in-savings contracts
- encourage
award-term contracts, revisit profit policies and clarify cost principles
On August 21, Melissa Wojciak, staff director for the Subcommittee, held an
informal drafting summit on SARA with members of industry. Holland & Knight
lawyers Christopher Yukins and Kristen Ittig attended the meeting on behalf of
industry groups, and are available for further information on SARA. Both may be
reached at 1-888-688-8500 or via e-mail at cyukins@hklaw.com and kittig@hklaw.com,
respectively.