Sec. 301. Contracting provisions
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Part I of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: Sec. 701. Definitions. 702. Delegation of contracting authority. 703. Posting of noncompetitive purchase requests for noncompetitive contracts. 704. Review of ethical issues. 705. Ethical restrictions on participation in certain contracting activity. In this chapter— the term contracting officer means an employee of a covered postal entity who has authority to enter into a postal contract; the term covered postal entity means— the Postal Service; or the Postal Regulatory Commission; the term head of a covered postal entity means— in the case of the Postal Service, the Postmaster General; or in the case of the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission; the term postal contract means— in the case of the Postal Service, any contract (including any agreement or memorandum of understanding) entered into by the Postal Service for the procurement of goods or services; or in the case of the Postal Regulatory Commission, any contract (including any agreement or memorandum of understanding) in an amount exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (as defined in section 134 of title 41) entered into by the Postal Regulatory Commission for the procurement of goods or services; and the term senior procurement executive means the senior procurement executive of a covered postal entity.
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this chapter, the head of each covered postal entity shall issue a policy on contracting officer delegations of authority for postal contracts for the covered postal entity. The policy issued under paragraph
(1)shall require that— notwithstanding any delegation of authority with respect to postal contracts, the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the award and administration of postal contracts resides with the senior procurement executive; and a contracting officer shall maintain an awareness of, and engagement in, the activities being performed on postal contracts of which that officer has cognizance, notwithstanding any delegation of authority that may have been executed. The head of each covered postal entity shall make any delegation of authority for postal contracts outside the functional contracting unit readily available and accessible on the website of the covered postal entity. This paragraph shall apply to any delegation of authority made on or after the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this chapter. The Postal Regulatory Commission shall make the noncompetitive purchase request for any noncompetitive award for any contract (including any agreement or memorandum of understanding) entered into by the Postal Regulatory Commission for the procurement of goods and services in an amount of $20,000 or more, including the rationale supporting the noncompetitive award, publicly available on the website of the Postal Regulatory Commission— not later than 14 days after the date of the award of the noncompetitive contract; or not later than 30 days after the date of the award of the noncompetitive contract, if the basis for the award was a compelling business interest. The Postal Service shall make the noncompetitive purchase request for any noncompetitive award of a postal contract in an amount of $250,000 or more, including the rationale supporting the noncompetitive award, publicly available on the website of the Postal Service— not later than 14 days after the date of the award; or not later than 30 days after the date of the award, if the basis for the award was a compelling business interest. Not later than January 31 of each year, the Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission shall— review the applicable threshold established under paragraph
(1)or (2); and based on any change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers of the Department of Labor, determine whether an adjustment to the threshold shall be made. An adjustment under subparagraph
(A)shall be made in increments of $5,000. If the covered postal entity determines that a change in the Consumer Price Index for a year would require an adjustment in an amount that is less than $5,000, the covered postal entity may not make an adjustment to the threshold for the year. This subsection shall apply to any noncompetitive contract awarded on or after the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this chapter. Subject to paragraph (2), the information required to be made publicly available by a covered postal entity under subsection
(a)shall be readily accessible on the website of the covered postal entity. A covered postal entity shall— carefully screen any description of the rationale supporting a noncompetitive award required to be made publicly available under subsection
(a)to determine whether the description includes proprietary data (including any reference or citation to the proprietary data) or security-related information; and remove any proprietary data or security-related information before making publicly available a description of the rationale supporting a noncompetitive award. If the Postal Service determines that making a noncompetitive purchase request for a postal contract of the Postal Service under subsection (a)(2) publicly available would risk placing the Postal Service at a competitive disadvantage relative to a private sector competitor, the senior procurement executive, in consultation with the advocate for competition of the Postal Service, may waive the requirements under subsection (a). A waiver under paragraph
(1)shall be in the form of a written determination placed in the file of the contract to which the noncompetitive purchase request relates. A waiver under paragraph
(1)shall include— a description of the risk associated with making the noncompetitive purchase request publicly available; and a statement that redaction of sensitive information in the noncompetitive purchase request would not be sufficient to protect the Postal Service from being placed at a competitive disadvantage relative to a private sector competitor. The Postal Service may not delegate the authority to approve a waiver under paragraph
(1)to any employee having less authority than the senior procurement executive. If a contracting officer identifies any ethical issues relating to a proposed contract and submits those issues and that proposed contract to the designated ethics official for the covered postal entity before the awarding of that contract, that ethics official shall— review the proposed contract; and advise the contracting officer on the appropriate resolution of ethical issues. In this section— the term covered employee means— a contracting officer; or any employee of a covered postal entity whose decisionmaking affects a postal contract as determined by regulations prescribed by the head of a covered postal entity; the term final conviction means a conviction entered by a court, regardless of whether such conviction was entered on a verdict or pursuant to a plea (including a plea of nolo contendere), and with regard to which no further appeal may be taken or is pending; and the term covered relationship means a covered relationship described in section 2635.502(b)(1) of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto. The head of each covered postal entity shall prescribe regulations that— require a covered employee to include in the file of any noncompetitive purchase request for a noncompetitive postal contract a written certification that— discloses any covered relationship of the covered employee; and states that the covered employee will not take any action with respect to the noncompetitive purchase request that affects the financial interests of any person with which the covered employee has a covered relationship, or otherwise gives rise to an appearance of the use of public office for private gain, as described in section 2635.702 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto; require a contracting officer to consult with the ethics counsel for the covered postal entity regarding any disclosure made by a covered employee under subparagraph (A)(i), to determine whether participation by the covered employee in the noncompetitive purchase request would give rise to a violation of part 2635 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly referred to as the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch), or any successor thereto; require the ethics counsel for a covered postal entity to review any disclosure made by a contracting officer under subparagraph (A)(i) to determine whether participation by the contracting officer in the noncompetitive purchase request would give rise to a violation of part 2635 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (commonly referred to as the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch), or any successor thereto; under subsections
(d)and
(e)of section 2635.502 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto, require the ethics counsel for a covered postal entity to— authorize a covered employee that makes a disclosure under subparagraph (A)(i) to participate in the noncompetitive postal contract; or disqualify a covered employee that makes a disclosure under subparagraph (A)(i) from participating in the noncompetitive postal contract; require a contractor to timely disclose to the contracting officer in a bid, solicitation, award, or performance of a postal contract any conflict of interest with a covered employee; and include authority for the head of the covered postal entity to grant a waiver or otherwise mitigate any organizational or personal conflict of interest, if the head of the covered postal entity determines that the waiver or mitigation is in the best interests of the covered postal entity. Not later than 30 days after the head of a covered postal entity grants a waiver described in paragraph (1)(F), the head of the covered postal entity shall make the waiver publicly available on the website of the covered postal entity. In any case in which there is a final conviction for a violation of any provision of chapter 11 of title 18 relating to a postal contract, the head of a covered postal entity may— void that contract; and recover the amounts expended and property transferred by the covered postal entity under that contract. In any case in which a contractor under a postal contract fails to timely disclose a conflict of interest to the appropriate contracting officer as required under the regulations promulgated under subsection (b)(1)(E), the head of a covered postal entity may— void that contract; and recover the amounts expended and property transferred by the covered postal entity under that contract. A case described under subparagraph
(A)is any case in which— there is a final conviction for an offense punishable under section 2105 of title 41; or the head of a covered postal entity determines, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that the contractor or someone acting for the contractor has engaged in conduct constituting an offense punishable under section 2105 of such title. . The table of chapters at the beginning of part I is amended by adding at the end the following: 7. Contracting Provisions 701 .