Acquisition bill moves ahead

The House Government Reform Committee approved the Services Acquisition Reform Act, a bill first introduced in the last congressional session but didn't make it out of committee.

H.R. 1837 will allow agencies to extend services contracts if vendors show exceptional performance. The bill also will allow using time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts for commercial services typically sold to the public through such contracts. Currently, only fixed-price contracts are allowed.

An amendment added during committee markup would forbid the Office of Management and Budget from setting numerical goals or quotas for agencies to compete positions with the private sector under OMB Circular A-76.