SWAMP Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2269 To establish a competitive bidding process for the relocation of the headquarters of Executive agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 25, 2019 Ms. ERNST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To establish a competitive bidding process for the relocation of the headquarters of Executive agencies, 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 ‘‘Strategic Withdrawal 4 of Agencies for Meaningful Placement Act of 2019’’ or 5 the ‘‘SWAMP Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. RELOCATION OF HEADQUARTERS OF EXECUTIVE 7 AGENCIES. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2269 IS (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive 1 agency’’— 2 (A) has the meaning given the term in sec- 3 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code; and 4 (B) does not include— 5 (i) the Executive Office of the Presi- 6 dent; 7 (ii) the Department of Defense, in- 8 cluding— 9 (I) the Defense Intelligence 10 Agency; 11 (II) the National Security Agen- 12 cy; and 13 (III) the National Geospatial-In- 14 telligence Agency; 15 (iii) the Department of Energy; 16 (iv) the Department of Homeland Se- 17 curity; 18 (v) the Department of State; 19 (vi) the Office of the Director of Na- 20 tional Intelligence; or 21 (vii) the Central Intelligence Agency. 22 (2) HEADQUARTERS.—The term ‘‘head- 23 quarters’’— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2269 IS (A) means the place or building serving as 1 the managerial and administrative center of an 2 Executive agency; and 3 (B) does not include an office that the 4 head of an Executive agency may maintain sep- 5 arately from a place or building in the Wash- 6 ington metropolitan area. 7 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 8 the 50 States. 9 (4) WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA.—The 10 term ‘‘Washington metropolitan area’’ means the ge- 11 ographic area located within the boundaries of— 12 (A) the District of Columbia; 13 (B) Montgomery and Prince George’s 14 Counties in the State of Maryland; and 15 (C) Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and 16 Prince William Counties and the City of Alex- 17 andria in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 18 (b) REPEAL OF HEADQUARTERS LOCATION RE- 19 QUIREMENT.—Section 72 of title 4, United States Code, 20 is repealed. 21 (c) PROHIBITION ON LOCATION OF HEADQUARTERS 22 IN WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA.—With respect to 23 a headquarters of an Executive agency that is located in 24 the Washington metropolitan area as of the date of enact- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2269 IS ment of this Act, no new construction or major renovation 1 may be undertaken, or lease agreement entered into or 2 renewed, for the headquarters after the date of enactment 3 of this Act, except as otherwise expressly provided by law. 4 (d) COMPETITIVE BIDDING PROCESS FOR RELOCA- 5 TION OF HEADQUARTERS.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 8 of General Services shall establish a process, in ac- 9 cordance with the requirements under paragraph 10 (2), through which— 11 (A) the head of an Executive agency may 12 submit a request for the Administrator of Gen- 13 eral Services to issue a solicitation for the relo- 14 cation of the headquarters of the Executive 15 agency; or 16 (B) if determined necessary, the Adminis- 17 trator of General Services may issue a solicita- 18 tion for the relocation of the headquarters of an 19 Executive agency. 20 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—With respect to any so- 21 licitation issued for the relocation of the head- 22 quarters of an Executive agency under paragraph 23 (1), the Administrator of General Services shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2269 IS (A) allow any State and any political sub- 1 division of a State to submit a proposal for the 2 relocation of the headquarters of the Executive 3 agency; 4 (B) provide the public with notice and an 5 opportunity to comment on any proposal sub- 6 mitted under subparagraph (A); and 7 (C) in consultation with the head of the 8 Executive agency, select a State, or a political 9 subdivision of a State, for the relocation of the 10 headquarters using a competitive bidding proce- 11 dure that considers— 12 (i) the extent to which the relocation 13 of the headquarters would impact the econ- 14 omy and workforce development of a State 15 or political subdivision of a State; 16 (ii) whether a State, or a political sub- 17 division of a State, has expertise in car- 18 rying out activities substantially similar to 19 the mission and goals of the Executive 20 agency; and 21 (iii) the extent to which the relocation 22 of the headquarters to a State, or a polit- 23 ical subdivision of a State, would implicate 24 national security interests. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2269 IS (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 1 shall be construed to prohibit a political subdivision of the 2 State of Maryland or the Commonwealth of Virginia that 3 is located outside the Washington metropolitan area from 4 submitting a proposal under subsection (d)(2)(A). 5 (f) OFFSET ALLOWED.—The Administrator of Gen- 6 eral Services may use the proceeds from the sale of any 7 Federal building or land to offset the cost of relocating 8 the headquarters of an Executive agency. 9 (g) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED.—No ad- 10 ditional funds are authorized to carry out this Act. This 11 Act shall be carried out using amounts otherwise author- 12 ized. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:00 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2269.IS S2269 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS