HR9596-118

Passed House

To amend title 41, United States Code, and title 10, United States Code, to provide best value through the multiple award schedule program, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Nov 13, 2024

Legislative Progress

Passed House
Introduced Committee Passed
Dec 19, 2024

Reported by Mr. Peters, without amendment

Dec 19, 2024 (inferred)

Passed House (inferred from eh version)

Nov 13, 2024

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland …

Summary

What This Bill Does

Amends federal procurement law to give GSA Administrator discretion to award contracts based on "best value" rather than strictly "lowest overall cost" when it serves federal interests.

Who Benefits and How

Federal agencies benefit from flexibility to consider quality, capability, and other factors beyond price. Higher-quality contractors benefit from ability to compete on value rather than price alone.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Low-cost contractors who competed primarily on price may lose competitive advantage. The change could potentially increase some procurement costs if agencies choose higher-priced but higher-value options.

Key Provisions

  • Amends title 41 and title 10 procurement statutes
  • Gives GSA Administrator discretion to determine when best value procurement is appropriate
  • Maintains lowest cost as default but allows best value alternative
Model: claude-opus-4
Generated: Jan 9, 2026 18:22

Evidence Chain:

This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

Primary Purpose

Allows GSA to use best value instead of lowest cost for federal procurement through multiple award schedules

Policy Domains

Federal Procurement Government Contracting

Legislative Strategy

"Increase procurement flexibility to improve quality of government acquisitions"

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Federal Procurement
Actor Mappings
"the_administrator"
→ Administrator of General Services

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

1 term
"best value" §2

As described under section 15.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology