U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairs Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) reached an agreement on the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As you know, NASBP supported two provisions that were in the House version of the NDAA that addressed individual surety and increased the guarantee from 70% to 90% in the SBA Bond Guarantee Preferred Program. Unfortunately, neither provision was included in the final package.
Included in the final package were two provisions that NASBP and other members of the Construction Procurement Coalition supported relating to reverse auctions and design-build. While limited in scope, both provisions are viewed as positive first steps by members of the Coalition. Specifically, the reverse auction provision prohibits reverse auctions in design-build contracts for military construction contracts. The coalition supports a much broader approach that prohibits reverse auctions for construction contracts in all federal agencies. The design-build provision included in the final NDAA limits the number of offerors to five, where contracts exceed $4 million in the two-step process. The bill, however, does not limit the use of one-step design build procurement, which is supported by the Coalition. The Coalition will seek to advance the provisions addressing surety, requiring bonds on federally supported public-private partnerships (P3s), and to make modifications to the design-build, reverse auction provisions in the next Congress.