41 U.S.C. § 1705 — Advocates for competition

Page 48 TITLE 41—PUBLIC CONTRACTS § 1705 Year 2009 (Public Law 110–417; 122 Stat. 4553)), to ad- dress how the agencies are meeting their human cap- ital requirements to support the timely and effective acquisition of information technology. ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The updates required by paragraph (1) shall be submitted to the Administrator for Fed- eral Procurement Policy and shall address, at a min- imum, each Federal agency’s consideration or use of the following procedures: ‘‘(A) Development of an information technology acquisition cadre within the agency or use of memoranda of understanding with other agencies that have such cadres or personnel with experience relevant to the agency’s information technology ac- quisition needs. ‘‘(B) Development of personnel assigned to infor- mation technology acquisitions, including cross- functional training of acquisition information tech- nology and program personnel. ‘‘(C) Use of the specialized career path for infor- mation technology program managers as des- ignated by the Office of Personnel Management and plans for strengthening information technology program management. ‘‘(D) Use of direct hire authority. ‘‘(E) Conduct of peer reviews. ‘‘(F) Piloting of innovative approaches to infor- mation technology acquisition workforce develop- ment, such as industry-government rotations. ‘‘(c) FEDERAL AGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘Federal agency’ means each agency listed in sec- tion 901(b) of title 31, United States Code.’’ § 1705. Advocates for competition (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND DESIGNATION.— (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Each executive agency has an advocate for competition. (2) DESIGNATION.—The head of each executive agency shall— (A) designate for the executive agency and for each procuring activity of the executive agency one officer or employee serving in a position authorized for the executive agency on July 18, 1984 (other than the senior pro- curement executive designated pursuant to section 1702(c) of this title) to serve as the advocate for competition; (B) not assign those officers or employees duties or responsibilities that are incon- sistent with the duties and responsibilities of the advocates for competition; and (C) provide those officers or employees with the staff or assistance necessary to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the advocate for competition, such as indi- viduals who are specialists in engineering, technical operations, contract administra- tion, financial management, supply manage- ment, and utilization of small and disadvan- taged business concerns. (b) DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS.—The advocate for competition of an executive agency shall— (1) be responsible for challenging barriers to, and promoting full and open competition in, the procurement of property and services by the executive agency; (2) review the procurement activities of the executive agency; (3) identify and report to the senior procure- ment executive of the executive agency— (A) opportunities and actions taken to achieve full and open competition in the pro- curement activities of the executive agency; and (B) any condition or action which has the effect of unnecessarily restricting competi- tion in the procurement actions of the exec- utive agency; (4) prepare and transmit to the senior pro- curement executive an annual report describ- ing— (A) the advocate’s activities under this section; (B) new initiatives required to increase competition; and (C) remaining barriers to full and open competition; (5) recommend to the senior procurement ex- ecutive— (A) goals and the plans for increasing com- petition on a fiscal year basis; and (B) a system of personal and organiza- tional accountability for competition, which may include the use of recognition and awards to motivate program managers, con- tracting officers, and others in authority to promote competition in procurement pro- grams; and (6) describe other ways in which the execu- tive agency has emphasized competition in programs for procurement training and re- search. (c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The advocate for com- petition for each procuring activity is respon- sible for promoting full and open competition, promoting the acquisition of commercial prod- ucts and commercial services, and challenging barriers to acquisition, including unnecessarily restrictive statements of need, unnecessarily de- tailed specifications, and unnecessarily burden- some contract clauses. (Pub. L. 111–350, § 3, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3709; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 836(b)(2), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1861.) HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES Revised Section Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at Large) 1705 ............ 41:418. Pub. L. 93–400, § 20, as added Pub. L. 98–369, title VII, § 2732(a), July 18, 1984, 98 Stat. 1197; Pub. L. 103–355, title VIII, § 8303(a), Oct. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 3398. Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2018—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–232 substituted ‘‘com- mercial products and commercial services’’ for ‘‘com- mercial items’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2018 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a savings provision, see section 836(h) of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as an Effective Date of 2018 Amend- ment; Savings Provision note under section 453b of Title 6, Domestic Security. § 1706. Personnel evaluation The head of each executive agency subject to division C shall ensure, with respect to the em-