Bill > HR1666

This bill, the Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of 2015, modifies how the government awards contracts for designing and building public facilities. For contracts valued at $750,000 or more, it mandates the use of a "two-phase selection procedure," which involves first evaluating a company's qualifications and then, for a select group, requesting detailed technical and price proposals. For contracts under $750,000, this two-phase process is still encouraged if certain conditions are met, such as anticipating multiple offers, requiring design work before pricing, and significant proposal preparation costs. The bill also clarifies that if more than five companies are chosen as finalists for the second phase of a contract, the contracting officer must provide written justification explaining why this is in the government's best interest. Furthermore, executive agencies will be required to report annually on instances where more than five finalists were selected or where the two-phase process wasn't used, and these reports will be made public. Finally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will review these agency reports to ensure compliance with the new design-build contract procedures.