Sander Levin: “the Senate today begins consideration of S. 1587, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, which is the most…”

“the Senate today begins consideration of S. 1587, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, which is the most significant procurement reform legislation to be considered by the Senate since the Competition in Contracting Act 10 years ago which Senator Cohen and I and others introduced. The pending bill before the Senate now was introduced on October 26 last year with Senators Glenn, Bingaman, Nunn, Bumpers, and myself as original cosponsors. But that was just the beginning of the process. Over the last 6 months, the Governmental Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee have held three joint hearings on the bill and have solicited comments from the administration, the contracting community, and other interested parties. Our staffs have met almost constantly throughout this period working out modifications to improve the bill and ensure that it achieves its underlying purpose of streamlining the Federal acquisition system. The bill is 300 pages long and would amend roughly 200 separate procurement-related provisions of the United States Code.”