CIVILIAN BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS.

SEC. 847. CIVILIAN BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS.(a) In General.—The Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 401 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:“SEC. 42. CIVILIAN BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS.“(a) Board Established.—There is established in the General Services Administration a board of contract appeals to be known as the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (in this section referred to as the ‘Civilian Board’).“(b) Membership.—“(1) Appointment.—(A) The Civilian Board shall consist of members appointed by the Administrator of General Services (in consultation with the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy) from a register of applicants maintained by the Administrator of General Services, in accordance with rules issued by the Administrator of General Services (in consultation with the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy) for establishing and maintaining a register of eligible applicants and selecting Civilian Board members. The Administrator of General Services shall appoint a member without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of the professional qualifications required to perform the duties and responsibilities of a Civilian Board member.119 STAT. 3392“(B) The members of the Civilian Board shall be selected and appointed to serve in the same manner as administrative law judges appointed pursuant to section 3105 of title 5, United States Code, with an additional requirement that such members shall have had not fewer than five years of experience in public contract law.“(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (B) and subject to paragraph (2), the following persons shall serve as Civilian Board members: any full-time member of any agency board of contract appeals other than the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals, and the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley Authority serving as such on the day before the effective date of this section.“(2) Removal.—Members of the Civilian Board shall be subject to removal in the same manner as administrative law judges, as provided in section 7521 of title 5, United States Code.“(3) Compensation.—Compensation for members of the Civilian Board shall be determined under section 5372a of title 5, United States Code.“(c) Functions.—“(1) In general.—The Civilian Board shall have jurisdiction as provided by section 8(d) of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607(b)).“(2) Additional jurisdiction.—The Civilian Board may, with the concurrence of the Federal agency or agencies affected—“(A) assume jurisdiction over any additional category of laws or disputes over which an agency board of contract appeals established pursuant to section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act exercised jurisdiction before the effective date of this section; and“(B) assume any other functions performed by such a board before such effective date on behalf of such agencies.” .(b) Transfers.—The personnel employed in connection with, and the assets, liabilities, contracts, property, records, and unexpended balance of appropriations, authorizations, allocations, and other funds employed, held, used, arising from, available to, or to be made available in connection with the functions vested by law in the agency boards of contract appeals established pursuant to section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607) (as in effect on the day before the effective date described in subsection (g)) other than the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals shall be transferred to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals for appropriate allocation by the Chairman of that Board.(c) Termination of Boards of Contract Appeals.—(1) Termination.—Effective on the effective date described in subsection (g), the agency boards of contract appeals established pursuant to section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607) (as in effect on the day before such effective date), other than the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley 119 STAT. 3393 Authority, and the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals, shall terminate.(2) Savings provision.—(A) This section and the amendments made by this section shall not affect any proceedings pending on the effective date described in subsection (g) before any agency board of contract appeals terminated by paragraph (1).(B) In the case of any such proceedings pending before an agency board of contract appeals other than the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals or the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the proceedings shall be continued by the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and orders which were issued in any such proceeding by the agency board shall continue in effect until modified, terminated, superseded, or revoked by the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law.(d) Amendments to Contracts Disputes Act.—(1) Amendments to definitions.—Section 2 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 601) is amended—(A) in paragraph (2), by striking “, the United States Postal Service, and the Postal Rate Commission”;(B) by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (9);(C) by amending paragraph (6) to read as follows:“(6) the terms ‘agency board’ or ‘agency board of contract appeals’ mean—“(A) the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals established under section 8(a)(1) of this Act;“(B) the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals established under section 42 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403 et seq.);“(C) the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley Authority; or“(D) the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals established under section 8(c) of this Act;”; and(D) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following new paragraphs:“(7) the term ‘Armed Services Board’ means the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals established under section 8(a)(1) of this Act;“(8) the term ‘Civilian Board’ means the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals established under section 42 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403 et seq.); and”.(2) Amendments relating to jurisdiction.—Section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607) is amended—(A) in subsection (d)—(i) by striking the first sentence and inserting the following: “The Armed Services Board shall have jurisdiction to decide any appeal from a decision of a contracting officer of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration relative to a contract made by that department or agency. The Civilian Board shall have jurisdiction to decide any appeal from 119 STAT. 3394 a decision of a contracting officer of any executive agency (other than the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, or the Tennessee Valley Authority) relative to a contract made by that agency. Each other agency board shall have jurisdiction to decide any appeal from a decision of a contracting officer relative to a contract made by its agency.”; and(ii) in the second sentence, by striking “Claims Court” and inserting “Court of Federal Claims”;(B) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:“(c) There is established an agency board of contract appeals to be known as the ‘Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals’. Such board shall have jurisdiction to decide any appeal from a decision of a contracting officer of the United States Postal Service or the Postal Rate Commission relative to a contract made by either agency. Such board shall consist of judges appointed by the Postmaster General who shall meet the qualifications of and serve in the same manner as members of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals. This Act shall apply to contract disputes before the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals in the same manner as they apply to contract disputes before the Civilian Board.”.(3) Conforming amendments.—Section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607) is further amended—(A) in subsection (a)(1)—(i) by striking “Except as provided in paragraph (2) an agency board of contract appeals” and inserting “An Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals”; and(ii) by striking “an executive agency when the agency head” and inserting “the Department of Defense when the Secretary of Defense”; and(B) in subsection (b)(1)—(i) by striking “Except as provided in paragraph (2), the members of agency boards” and inserting “The members of the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals”;(ii) in the second sentence, by striking “agency boards” and inserting “such Board”;(iii) in the third sentence, by striking “each board” and inserting “such Board” and by striking “the agency head” and inserting “the Secretary of Defense”; and(iv) in the fourth sentence, by striking “an agency board” and inserting “such Board”.(4) Repeal of obsolete provisions.—Section 8 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 U.S.C. 607) is further amended by striking subsections (h) and (i).(e) References.—Any reference to an agency board of contract appeals other than the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, the board of contract appeals of the Tennessee Valley Authority, or the Postal Service Board of Contract Appeals in any provision of law or in any rule, regulation, or other paper of the United States shall be treated as referring to the Civilian Board of Contract 119 STAT. 3395 Appeals established under section 42 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act. (f) Conforming and Clerical Amendments.—(1) Section 5372a(a)(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after “of 1978” the following: “or a member of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals appointed under section 42 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act”.(2) The table of contents for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (contained in section 1(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following new item: “42. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals.”. (g) Effective Date.—Section 42 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as added by this section, and the amendments and repeals made by this section, shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.