THREE-YEAR PROGRAM FOR USE OF MASTER AGREEMENTS FOR PROCUREMENT OF ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES

SEC. 812. THREE-YEAR PROGRAM FOR USE OF MASTER AGREEMENTS FOR PROCUREMENT OF ADVISORY AND ASSISTANCE SERVICES Section 2304 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(j) (1) The Secretary of Defense may enter into agreements (known as ‘master agreements’) with responsible sources under which the Secretary may issue orders for the performance of specific advisory and assistance services. Any such agreement shall specify terms and conditions for the subsequent procurement of advisory and assistance services from the sources. The period covered by any such agreement may not exceed two years. Any such agreement may only be entered into using procedures that, in the case of the award of a contract, would be competitive procedures. Any such agreement shall be entered into with at least three of the sources that submit offers for the master agreement. “(2) Following the establishment of sources for advisory and assistance services through the use of a master agreement described in paragraph (1), the Secretary of Defense (A) may request offers from all sources with master agreements for the services for which offers are being requested if the contracting officer determines that there is a reasonable expectation that offers will be obtained from at least two sources, and (B) may issue orders (known as ‘task orders’) pursuant to the request for offers to such sources for the perform-103 STAT. 1494ance of specific advisory and assistance services, subject to the requirements of this subsection. Any such request for offers shall contain a statement of work clearly specifying all tasks to be performed under the order. Upon evaluation of an offer or offers resulting from a request, the task order shall be issued to the source submitting the offer that the Secretary of Defense determines to be the most advantageous to the United States, considering only cost or price and other factors included in the request for offers. “(3)(A) The requirements for the giving of notice of certain solicitations that are prescribed in section 18 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416) and section 8(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)) shall apply to solicitations for offers for a master agreement under this subsection in the same manner and to the same extent as those requirements apply to solicitations for proposals for a contract for services for a price expected to exceed $25,000. “(B) Such requirements for the giving of notice shall not apply to the issuance of orders under a master agreement entered into pursuant to the procedures established under this section, except that the Secretary of Defense shall furnish for publication by the Secretary of Commerce a notice announcing the order, “(4) The total value of task orders issued under master agreements by any contracting activity in a fiscal year may not exceed the amount equal to 30 percent of the value of all contracts for advisory and assistance services awarded by that contracting activity during fiscal year 1989. “(5) The authority provided by this subsection to enter into master agreements shall terminate at the end of the three-year period beginning on the date on which final regulations prescribed to carry out this subsection take effect.”.