§393 Special Streamlined Acquisition Authority

Summary

Allows the Secretary to use faster buying rules for Department purchases made from the law’s start until September 30, 2007, if the Secretary puts in writing that the Department’s mission would be seriously harmed without them. Only a Presidentially appointed, Senate‑confirmed officer may make that written finding. Within 7 days of the finding, the Secretary must notify and explain the decision to the House Committee on Government Reform and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. The Secretary can let a limited number of employees make small purchases up to $7,500. Those employees must be fewer than current noncompetitive buyers, spread out where terrorist targets are likely, and small enough to monitor. A supervisor must review their purchases at least monthly and may oversee no more than 7 such employees. The simplified purchase limits may be treated as $200,000 for buys inside the United States and $300,000 for buys outside the United States. The Secretary may call items or services “commercial” for procurement rules, and a usual $5,000,000 cap is raised to $7,500,000 for those buys. Any authority that would expire under section 4202(e) of the Clinger‑Cohen Act of 1996 will still apply to these procurements. The Comptroller General must report to the two committees no later than 180 days after the end of fiscal year 2005 on how these authorities were used, whether they helped the mission, whether they got good value, how many employees were designated by each agency, how monitoring was done, and any recommendations.