Nancy Mace

CHARLESTON — For years, Nancy Mace's opponents have criticized her for her lack of a legislative record in Congress, which includes getting passed just one bill, for renaming a post office on Hilton Head Island.

Soon, Mace’s second-ever — and likely final — bill to pass both chambers of Congress will cross President Donald Trump’s desk. Its impact on the Lowcountry could be significant.

Mace’s bill, dubbed the Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act of 2025, passed through the Senate in a flurry of activity Sept. 30, leaving it with just one step — Trump’s signature, or lack thereof — to become law.

Its aim is simple: under the bill, federal contracts may no longer stipulate minimum educational requirements for individuals performing the work unless the contracting officer justifies the requirements in writing.

Mace told reporters this week the change will substantially increase the pool of companies eligible to apply for federal contracts.

“These companies could have more flexibility to hire workers based on their skills and experience rather than unnecessary degree or credential requirements,” her office said in a statement.

Mace thinks it could be a game-changer in the Lowcountry, which includes a high propensity of contracts relating to cybersecurity, technology and defense. South Carolina currently has more than 100 federal contracts out for bid, federal procurement sites show, and while not all require college degrees, some do.

Yet only a little more than one-third of Americans over the age of 25 hold bachelor's degrees, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates, leaving the rest of the population dependent on more informal avenues like certificate programs or on-the-job learning to develop their craft.

Federal contract work, Mace said, should reflect that reality.

“You can talk to any federal contractor in town, and they'll tell you that this is going to be enormous for them because now they have a bigger resume pool that they can pull from,” she said.

The impetus for the bill stems from a Mace-led 2024 House Oversight Committee hearing in Washington around developing a workforce for the artificial intelligence era. In that hearing IBM executive Timi Hadra expressed concerns that rigid hiring guidelines could contribute to shortages in lucrative government contracting work.

“While the federal civil service is moving in the right direction when it comes to skills-based hiring, federal contractors are rarely able to place an individual without a four-year degree on a technology services contract, regardless of their qualifications,” Hadra said at the time. “Federal agencies tend to require educational degrees despite the reality that many roles can be staffed by individuals without degrees when they have the right skills and experience.”

Mace, R-Charleston, now on her way out of Congress following her failed bid for governor, will now likely see that change become law.

“This jobs bill will be a feather in my cap as I retire,” she told reporters. “It is a very big deal. It's probably the thing that I'm most proud of in my work in Congress before I retire: the opportunity to give some guy or some gal a chance when someone told them ‘no’ because they didn't have a piece of paper.”

The post office, renamed in 2022, is located on Hilton Head Island at 213 William Hilton Parkway, and named for Caesar H. Wright Jr., the island’s first Black postman.