Legislate Easier Purchase of Commercial Items

Make it easier to buy commercial items.

Legislation should be enacted to:

-- amend the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to provide a
better definition of commercial items;

-- amend the Truth in Negotiation Act to relax the requirements for cost
and pricing data when a contract for commercial items is involved and to
provide an expanded definition of adequate price competition;

-- provide new exemptions to technical data requirements in commercial
item acquisitions;

-- amend the Buy American Act to increase competitiveness of U.S. firms
by adopting the "substantial transformation" test now applied under the
Trade Agreements Act12 to determine whether an offered product is from a
foreign source; and

-- provide for a new federal government commercial code, which would
contain "commercialstyle procedures" and eliminate selected provisions
of law for specialized, social, or economic provisions.

Endnotes

9. Buy American Act of March 3, 1933 (Copeland Act) (41 U.S.C.  10a10d).

10. Title 19 U.S.C., 2501.

11. Clinton, William J., and Albert Gore, Jr., Technology for America's
Economic Growth, a New Direction to Build Economic Strength (Washington,
D.C., 1993), pp. 2223.

12. Title 19 U.S.C. 2501 2581.