II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 79
To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum educational
requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solici-
tations, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY13, 2025
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum
educational requirements for proposed contractor per-
sonnel in certain contract solicitations, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allowing Contractors 4
to Choose Employees for Select Skills Act’’ or the ‘‘AC-5
CESS Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. USE OF REQUIREMENTS REGARDING EDUCATION 1
OF CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL. 2
(a) F
LEXIBILITY INCONTRACTOREDUCATIONRE-3
QUIREMENTS.—Chapter 33 of title 41, United States 4
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 5
section: 6
‘‘§ 3313. Flexibility in contractor education require-7
ments 8
‘‘(a) P
ROHIBITION.—A solicitation may not set forth 9
any minimum education requirement for proposed con-10
tractor personnel in order for a bidder to be eligible for 11
award of a contract unless the contracting officer includes 12
in the solicitation a written justification that explains why 13
the needs of the executive agency cannot be met without 14
any such requirement and clarifies how the requirement 15
ensures the needs are met. 16
‘‘(b) E
XECUTIVEAGENCYDEFINED.—In this sec-17
tion, the term ‘executive agency’ has the meaning given 18
that term in section 133 of this title.’’. 19
(b) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 20
The table of sections for chapter 33 of title 41, United 21
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-22
lowing new item: 23
‘‘3313. Flexibility in contractor education requirements.’’.
(c) OMB GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after 24
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 25
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Office of Management and Budget shall issue guidance to 1
the heads of executive agencies for implementing the 2
amendment made by subsection (a) that includes the fol-3
lowing: 4
(1) Instructions for contracting officers for the 5
justifications under section 3313(a) of title 41, 6
United States Code, as added by subsection (a), in-7
cluding a requirement that each use of an education 8
requirement be determined, justified, and reviewed. 9
(2) Instructions for contracting officers that en-10
courages the use of alternatives to education require-11
ments. 12
(d) A
PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 13
section shall apply with respect to solicitations issued on 14
or after the date that is 15 months after the date of the 15
enactment of this Act. 16
(e) R
EPEAL.—Section 813 of the Floyd D. Spence 17
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 18
(Public Law 106–398; 114 Stat. 1654A–214), as imple-19
mented in subpart 39.104 of the Federal Acquisition Reg-20
ulation, as in effect on January 3, 2025, is repealed as 21
of the date that the guidance required by subsection (c) 22
becomes effective. 23
(f) GAO R
EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 24
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 25
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shall submit to Congress an evaluation of executive agency 1
compliance with section 3313 of title 41, United States 2
Code, as added by subsection (a). 3
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 4
(1) E
DUCATION.—The term ‘‘education’’ means 5
an associate, baccalaureate, graduate, or profes-6
sional degree, specified coursework, or other form of 7
educational attainment awarded by a junior or com-8
munity college, college, or university that is accred-9
ited as a collegiate institution by a recognized ac-10
crediting agency or approved by the appropriate 11
State education authority under State law to grant 12
associate or higher degrees. 13
(2) E
DUCATION REQUIREMENT .—The term 14
‘‘education requirement’’ includes a requirement that 15
can be met either through— 16
(A) education alone; 17
(B) education or experience; or 18
(C) a combination of education and experi-19
ence. 20
(3) E
XECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 21
agency’’ has the meaning given that term in section 22
133 of title 41, United States Code. 23
Æ
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