Federal government will buy based on best value, not lowest price.
H.R. 1118 — Value Over Cost Act of 2025 · Filed by Byron Donalds (R-FL) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 7, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill changes how federal agencies buy goods and services. Instead of always picking the cheapest bid, agencies can now pick the best bid overall. Best value can include quality, speed of delivery, and how well it works. Agencies will have more freedom to choose what matters most.
Who it affects
Federal agencies that buy things will have new rules to follow. Companies that sell to the government may see how bids are judged change. Taxpayers may pay more or less depending on how agencies use this power.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say exactly what best value means. Each agency can decide for itself what counts as best value.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 7, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Armed…”
- Feb 4, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Feb 5, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 44 - 0”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Burlison moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required)…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $4,320,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 7 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 41% of bills with any report.
Byron Donalds, who sponsored the bill, received $66,946 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company & Affiliates — $2,340,000 in 3 reports
- HP Inc — $1,980,000 in 2 reports
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- best value — The bid that gives the most benefit overall, not the lowest price.
- federal agencies — Government offices and departments that buy things for the country.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (348 characters) on Jun 11, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-17.
“Federal government will buy based on best value, not lowest price.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1118/simple Report an error