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S. 79 119th Congress Senate

ACCESS Act

Official title: A bill to amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit minimum educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel in certain contract solicitations, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 13, 2025 Introduced by: James Lankford Republican · Oklahoma See on congress.gov
Government Operations and Politics Congressional oversightGovernment information and archivesPublic contracts and procurement
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 13, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Jan 13, 2025
Introduced in Senate
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What's happening now January 13, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Allowing Contractors to Choose Employees for Select Skills Act or the ACCESS Act

This bill prohibits federal contract bid solicitations for contractor personnel from including minimum educational requirements unless the contracting officer justifies the requirements. The prohibition applies to educational requirements that may be met through education alone, education or experience, or a combination of education and experience.

The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget to issue implementing guidance to federal agencies, including instructions for contracting officers that encourage using alternatives to education requirements.

 Hearings & markups 1
 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 5235 Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act of 2025
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 1

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Democratic 1
D
Peters, Gary C.
Michigan · Jan 13, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 79: ACCESS Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-79/
MLA
"S. 79: ACCESS Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-79/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 79, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-79/.
Markdown link
[S. 79: ACCESS Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-79/)
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