Except for electric utility systems constructed and operated as a part of an irrigation system, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to contract under such terms and conditions as he considers to be in the best interest of the Federal Government for the sale, operation, maintenance, repairs, or relocation of Government-owned utilities and utility systems and appurtenances used in the administration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Secretary shall not execute a contract pursuant to this section until he has submitted to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives a copy of the contract and a statement of his reasons for proposing the contract, and until such materials have lain before the Committees for sixty days (excluding the time during which either House is in recess for more than three days) unless prior thereto the Secretary is notified that neither committee has any objection to the proposed contract.