S. 3541

119 S3541 IS: To increase competition in Defense contracting, and for other purposes.
 U.S. Senate
 2025-12-17
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 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS
  1st Session  S. 3541  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   December 17, 2025   Mr. Peters  introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Armed Services    A BILL
To increase competition in Defense contracting, and for other purposes.
1.
Increasing competition in Defense contracting
(a)
Uses of past performance
(1)
In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue guidance, including examples and templates where appropriate, on—
(A)
when the Department of Defense should accept past performance on a wider range of projects, such as a requirement without much precedent, in order to have increased competition among eligible firms with capability to perform a requirement, by including commercial or non-government projects as relevant past performance for the purposes of awarding contracts or other agreements;
(B)
a means by which the Department may validate non-government past performance references, including by requiring an official of an entity providing past performance references to attest to their authenticity and by providing verifiable contact information for the references; and
(C)
using alternative methods of evaluation other than past performance that may be appropriate for a requirement without much precedent, such as demonstrations and testing of technologies as part of the proposal process for contracts or other awards of the Department.
(2)
Supplement not supplant
The guidance issued under paragraph (1) shall supplement existing Department of Defense policy and procedures for consideration of past performance and other evaluation factors and methods.
(b)
Enhancing competition in Defense procurement
(1)
Council recommendations
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall convene the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (in this section referred to as the  Council ), to make recommendations to identify and eliminate specific, unnecessary procedural barriers that disproportionately affect the ability of small business concerns and nontraditional defense contractors, to compete for contracts with the Department of Defense, with a focus on streamlining documentation and qualification requirements unrelated to the protection of privacy and civil liberties.
(2)
Consultation
The Council shall obtain input from the public, including from the APEX Accelerators program (formerly known as the Procurement Technical Assistance Center network) and other contractor representatives, to identify procurement policies and regulations that are obsolete, overly burdensome or restrictive, not adequately harmonized, or otherwise serve to create barriers to small business concerns and nontraditional defense contractors contracting with the Department or that unnecessarily increase bid and proposal costs.
(3)
Examination of actions
The Council shall consider the input obtained under paragraph (2) and any other information determined to be relevant by the Council to identify legislative, regulatory, and other actions to increase competition and remove barriers to small business concerns and nontraditional defense contractors participating in the procurement process of the Department of Defense.
(4)
Implementation
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall implement the regulatory and other non-legislative actions identified under paragraph (3), as determined necessary by the Secretary, to remove barriers to entry for small business concerns and nontraditional defense contractors seeking to participate in Department of Defense procurement.
(5)
Briefing
Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a briefing on the legislative actions identified under paragraph (3) and the actions implemented under paragraph (4).
(c)
Consideration of cost-Efficiency and qualify
The Secretary of Defense shall advocate for and prioritize contracting policies that ensure that cost efficiency and quality of goods and services are key determining factors in awarding procurement contracts.
(d)
Definitions
In this section—
(1)
the term  nontraditional defense contractors  has the meaning given such term in section 3014 of title 10, United States Code; and
(2)
the term  small business concern  has the meaning given such term under section 3 of the Small Business Act ( 15 U.S.C. 632 ).