Description:
S. 3251 would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require agencies to acquire equipment using a method of acquisition that is most advantageous to the federal government on a case-by-case basis. This could include short- and long-term rental, leases, interagency acquisitions, or acquisition agreements with state and local governments. The bill also would require a report within two years by the Government Accountability Office on equipment acquisitions. According to the General Services Administration (GSA), agencies are already required to consider purchasing or leasing when evaluating the acquisition of equipment and proposed regulations will clarify leasing and renting as an option. In addition, GSA has proposed a similar rule. Because CBO expects that S. 3251 would not materially change how agencies acquire equipment, CBO estimates that implementing S. 3251 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. Enacting S. 3251 could affect direct spending by agencies not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would not be significant. S. 3251 would not affect revenues. CBO estimates that enacting S. 3251 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 3251 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On October 4, 2017, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 3071, the Federal Acquisition Savings Act of 2017, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on September 13, 2017. The two pieces of legislation are similar and the estimated budgetary effects are the same.
