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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3541 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3541
To increase competition in Defense contracting, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 17, 2025
Mr. Peters introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To increase competition in Defense contracting, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. INCREASING COMPETITION IN DEFENSE CONTRACTING.
(a) Uses of Past Performance.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue
guidance, including examples and templates where appropriate,
on--
(A) when the Department of Defense should accept
past performance on a wider range of projects, such as
a requirement without much precedent, in order to have
increased competition among eligible firms with
capability to perform a requirement, by including
commercial or non-government projects as relevant past
performance for the purposes of awarding contracts or
other agreements;
(B) a means by which the Department may validate
non-government past performance references, including
by requiring an official of an entity providing past
performance references to attest to their authenticity
and by providing verifiable contact information for the
references; and
(C) using alternative methods of evaluation other
than past performance that may be appropriate for a
requirement without much precedent, such as
demonstrations and testing of technologies as part of
the proposal process for contracts or other awards of
the Department.
(2) Supplement not supplant.--The guidance issued under
paragraph (1) shall supplement existing Department of Defense
policy and procedures for consideration of past performance and
other evaluation factors and methods.
(b) Enhancing Competition in Defense Procurement.--
(1) Council recommendations.--Not later than 90 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense
shall convene the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (in
this section referred to as the ``Council''), to make
recommendations to identify and eliminate specific, unnecessary
procedural barriers that disproportionately affect the ability
of small business concerns and nontraditional defense
contractors, to compete for contracts with the Department of
Defense, with a focus on streamlining documentation and
qualification requirements unrelated to the protection of
privacy and civil liberties.
(2) Consultation.--The Council shall obtain input from the
public, including from the APEX Accelerators program (formerly
known as the Procurement Technical Assistance Center network)
and other contractor representatives, to identify procurement
policies and regulations that are obsolete, overly burdensome
or restrictive, not adequately harmonized, or otherwise serve
to create barriers to small business concerns and
nontraditional defense contractors contracting with the
Department or that unnecessarily increase bid and proposal
costs.
(3) Examination of actions.--The Council shall consider the
input obtained under paragraph (2) and any other information
determined to be relevant by the Council to identify
legislative, regulatory, and other actions to increase
competition and remove barriers to small business concerns and
nontraditional defense contractors participating in the
procurement process of the Department of Defense.
(4) Implementation.--Not later than 2 years after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
implement the regulatory and other non-legislative actions
identified under paragraph (3), as determined necessary by the
Secretary, to remove barriers to entry for small business
concerns and nontraditional defense contractors seeking to
participate in Department of Defense procurement.
(5) Briefing.--Not later than two years after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
provide to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and
House of Representatives a briefing on the legislative actions
identified under paragraph (3) and the actions implemented
under paragraph (4).
(c) Consideration of Cost-Efficiency and Qualify.--The Secretary of
Defense shall advocate for and prioritize contracting policies that
ensure that cost efficiency and quality of goods and services are key
determining factors in awarding procurement contracts.
(d) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``nontraditional defense contractors'' has the
meaning given such term in section 3014 of title 10, United
States Code; and
(2) the term ``small business concern'' has the meaning
given such term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 632).
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
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