Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998
Public Law 105-270 · S. 314 · 105th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 19, 1998 · Government Operations and Politics
Sponsor: Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY)
Cosponsors (16): Sen. Chuck Hagel, Sen. Jon Kyl,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 - Directs the head of each executive agency to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, not later than the end of the third quarter of each fiscal year, a list of activities performed by Federal Government sources for the agency that, in the judgment of the head of the executive agency, are not inherently governmental functions.
Requires: (1) the Director to review the agency's list and consult with the agency head regarding the contents of the final list for the fiscal year; (2) the agency head to transmit a copy of the list to the Congress and make the list publicly available; (3) the Director to publish in the Federal Register a notice that the list is publicly available; and (4) the agency head to publish a notice regarding, make available to the public, and transmit to the Congress, any subsequent change to the list.
Requires the agency head to: (1) review the activities on the list within a reasonable time after such a notice of its availability is published; and (2) use a competitive process (with specified exceptions) and ensure that all costs are considered each time that he or she considers contracting with a private sector source for the performance of an activity on the list.
(Sec. 3) Permits an interested party to submit to an agency a challenge of an omission of a particular activity from, or an inclusion of a particular activity on, a list for which a notice has been published. Sets forth procedures governing filing challenges, agency decisions on challenges, appealing such decisions, and agency decisions on such appeals.
(Sec. 4) Provides that this Act shall not apply to or with respect to: (1) the General Accounting Office; (2) Government corporations and Government controlled corporations; (3) a part of a department or agency if all of the employees of that part are employees paid from nonappropriated funds of certain instrumentalities of the United States under the jurisdiction of the armed forces; and (4) depot-level maintenance and repair of the Department of Defense.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Oversight and Accountability Committee · House · referred toSubcommittee: Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee · Senate · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 16 actions.
- Oct 19, 1998Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 105-270.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 8, 1998PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 5, 1998FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Sessions moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
- Aug 5, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- Jul 31, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- Jul 30, 1998FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Unanimous Consent.
- Jul 28, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jul 15, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Markup by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Mar 24, 1998CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
- CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Jun 18, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- Feb 12, 1997CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.