EVALUATION OF CONTRACTS FOR PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

SEC. 804. EVALUATION OF CONTRACTS FOR PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SERVICES (a) Establishment of Criteria.—Within 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish criteria to ensure that proposals for contracts for professional and technical services are evaluated on a basis which does not encourage contractors to propose mandatory uncompensated overtime for professional and technical employees. In establishing such criteria, the Secretary shall consider the recommendations of the advisory committee established under subsection (b). The Secretary shall, before implementing such criteria, transmit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a report containing such criteria and the recommendations made by the advisory committee. (b) Advisory Committee.—(1) Within 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall establish an advisory committee to make recommendations on the criteria to be adopted by the Secretary. The advisory committee shall be composed, at a minimum, of such representatives as the Secretary considers appropriate from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, the Office of the Comptroller of the Department of Defense, the Acquisition Executives of the military departments, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, and professional and technical services industries. (2) In developing the recommendations, the advisory committee shall address the following issues: (A) How the Department of Defense can best be assured that it receives the best quality services for the amounts expended and that the contractors supplying such services follow sound personnel management practices and observe established labor-management policies and regulations. (B) Whether contract competitions should be structured in a manner that requires offerors to compete on the basis of factors other than the number of hours per week its professional and technical employees of similar annual salaries work. (C) Whether the Department of Defense can allow contractors to maintain different accounting systems (for example, 40-hour work week, full time accounting) and still allow the Department 102 STAT. 2010to evaluate proposals on the basis of a work rate of 40 hours per week and 2,080 hours per year.