|
Laws that Affect Government Contracting |
| Public Law |
Result |
| Purveyor of Public Affairs Act of 1795 |
Allowed the government to buy needed supplies and materials to perform government functions. |
| Civil Sundry Appropriations Act of 1861 |
Continued the principle of advertised procurements for the next 86 years. |
| Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 |
Protected small companies and their labor force from large business. |
| Armed Services Procurement Act of 1947 |
Continued the sealed bid as the
preferred method of procurement, placed procurement rules in one location
and gave us the Armed Services Procurement Regulation (ASPR), which was
the beginnings of today's rulebook, the FAR. |
| Eight-Hour Work Law of 1892 |
Set the eight-hour workday. |
| The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 |
Set the minimum wage on the
construction site at the local prevailing wage. |
| Buy American Act |
Required the government to buy
only American products. |
| Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 (note that this law was drastically changed in 1994) |
Required a supplier to certify
that it was the manufacturer or a regular dealer. This was an attempt to
do away with the "broker." |
| Small Business Act of 1953 |
Established the Small Business Administration. |
| Truth in Negotiation Act of 1962 |
Required both prime and
subcontractors on contracts over $500,000 to certify the cost data
submitted under the solicitation. |
| Public Law 95-507, Amendment to
the Small Business Act (1978) |
Formalized the Small Business
Subcontracting Plan requirement in contracts over $500,000 to large
businesses. Set goals for large primes. |
| Federal Acquisition
Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA) |
Revolutionary in its impact on
the federal acquisition process. It repealed or substantially modified
more than 225 statutes and pushed the contracting process into the 21st
century. Among other things, it simplified the federal procurement
process, reduced paperwork burdens, and transformed the simplified
acquisition process to electronic commerce. |
| Federal Acquisition Reform Act
of 1996 (FARA) or (Clinger-Cohen Act) |
Before FASA could be fully
implemented, this Act became law and corrected some deficiencies in the
earlier legislation and made more changes. |
