H.R. 1118 would amend federal law regarding the General Service Administration's (GSA’s) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, also known as the Federal Supply Schedule, that defines rules under which the federal government can purchase commercial products and services. The bill would change the basis for competitive procedures from “lowest overall cost alternative” to “best value.”
Using information from GSA, CBO expects that the bill would codify and clarify ongoing efforts in the MAS program to make best value the standard approach and to specify that lowest price is not the sole determining factor. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not significantly affect governmentwide administrative costs or prices for goods and services and would thus have an insignificant cost over the 2026-2031 period. Any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
