[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2767 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2767

To improve Federal agency oversight of contracts and assistance and to 
     strengthen accountability of the governmentwide debarment and 
                           suspension system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2003

  Mrs. Maloney (for herself, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. 
 Gary G. Miller of California, Mr. Towns, Mr. Owens, and Mr. Kucinich) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To improve Federal agency oversight of contracts and assistance and to 
     strengthen accountability of the governmentwide debarment and 
                           suspension system.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Contractors Accountability Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Need for database.--(A) By spending over 
        $215,000,000,000 a year on procurement and nonprocurement 
        awards for goods and services, the Federal Government is the 
        largest consumer in the world.
            (B) It is in the best interest of the Federal Government 
        and its taxpayers to award contract and assistance to entities 
        that are responsible and have a suitable record of integrity 
        and business ethics.
            (C) There is no centralized, comprehensive database on 
        judicial actions, consent decrees, administrative agreements, 
        terminations, or settlements with respect to potential Federal 
        contractors or assistance participants.
            (D) Federal officials do not have the resources necessary 
        to assemble such information for each Federal procurement 
        award.
            (E) The lack of this information compromises the Federal 
        Government's ability to safeguard the integrity of the Federal 
        procurement and assistance activities.
            (F) It is in the best business interests of the Federal 
        Government to have all information possible regarding potential 
        contractors' and assistance participants' performance and 
        integrity records to assure that persons with which the 
        Government does business are presently responsible.
            (2) Reality of debarments and suspensions of top 43 federal 
        contractors.--Since 1990--
                    (A) of the top 43 Federal contractors based on 
                total contract dollars received--
                            (i) 16 have a total of 28 criminal 
                        convictions; and
                            (ii) 4 of the top ten have at least 2 
                        criminal convictions;
                    (B) such 43 contractors have paid a total of 
                $3,400,000,000 in fines, penalties, restitution, 
                settlements, and clean-up costs under the Superfund 
                program; and
                    (C) despite such fines and criminal convictions, 
                only one of the 43 contractors has been debarred or 
                suspended from contracting with the Federal Government, 
                for only 5 days.
            (3) Need for database not fulfilled.--
                    (A) There is no centralized listing of criminal or 
                civil indictments, convictions, fines, penalties, 
                restitution, and settlement assessments relating to 
                contractors or assistance participants.
                    (B) Potential Federal contractors or assistance 
                participants are not required to disclose all relevant 
                criminal, civil, or administrative rulings or 
                resolutions during the Federal procurement award 
                process.
                    (C) Without such a database or disclosure, Federal 
                award officials and debarment officials lack important 
                information relevant to present responsibility.

SEC. 3. DATABASE FOR FEDERAL DEBARMENT OFFICIALS AND CONTRACTING 
              OFFICERS.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of General Services shall 
establish and maintain a database of information regarding integrity 
and performance of Federal contracts and assistance recipients for use 
by Federal procurement award officials and Federal officials having 
authority to debar or suspend persons from Federal contracts or 
assistance.
    (b) Information Included.--The database--
            (1) shall consist of information regarding judicial and 
        administrative proceedings initiated or concluded by the 
        Federal Government and State governments against Federal 
        contractors or assistance recipients; and
            (2) shall include with respect to each entity awarded a 
        Federal contract or assistance--
                    (A) information regarding all proceedings referred 
                to in paragraph (1) against that person in at least the 
                most recent 5-year period;
                    (B) with respect to each proceeding--
                            (i) a brief description of the proceeding; 
                        and
                            (ii) any amount paid by the person to the 
                        Federal Government or a State government;
                    (C) all Federal contracts and assistance awarded to 
                the person that were terminated in such period due to 
                default;
                    (D) all Federal debarments and suspensions of the 
                person in that period; and
                    (E) all Federal suspension and debarment or 
                administrative agreements signed with such person in 
                that period.
    (c) Input of Data.--The Administrator shall design and maintain the 
database in a manner that allows the appropriate officials of each 
Federal agency to directly input and update in the database information 
relating to actions it has taken with regard to contractors or 
assistance recipients.
    (d) Availability.--The Administrator shall make the database 
available to all Federal agencies and to the public in accordance with 
section 552 of title 5, United States Code, popularly known as the 
Freedom of Information Act.

SEC. 4. SUSPENSION AND DEBARMENT PRESUMPTION FOR REPEAT VIOLATORS AND 
              POOR PERFORMERS.

    (a) In General.--Federal agency suspension and debarment 
regulations shall be amended by no later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act to provide that an entity shall be 
presumed nonresponsible with respect to award of a Federal contract or 
assistance if the entity has rendered against it twice within any 3-
year period a judgment or conviction for the same offense, or similar 
offenses, if each conviction constitutes a cause for debarment under 
the governmentwide debarment system.
    (b) Rebuttal.--The presumption under subsection (a) shall be 
rebutted only if the entity demonstrates, by clear and convincing 
evidence, that the entity is presently responsible and has corrected 
the conditions that gave rise to the violations.
    (c) Repeat Violations.--An agency suspending official may deem 
evidence of repeat violations under subsection (a) as sufficient reason 
to find that immediate action is necessary to suspend an entity under 
the regulations until the entity fulfills the requirements of 
subsection (b).

SEC. 5. DISCLOSURE IN APPLICATIONS.

    Federal regulations shall be amended by no later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act to require that in applying 
for any Federal contract or assistance, whether by submission of a 
proposal, any solicitation, bid, or other offer, an entity shall 
disclose in writing--
            (1) all Federal or State debarments or suspensions of the 
        entity from contracts or assistance in the 5-year period 
        preceding the date of submission of the application;
            (2) all judicial and administrative proceedings against the 
        entity by the Federal Government or any State that occurred in 
        the 5-year period preceding the date of the application; and
            (3) all administrative agreements with respect to Federal 
        contracts or assistance that the entity is implementing to 
        avoid suspension or debarment within 5 years of the date of the 
        submission of the application.

SEC. 6. ROLE OF INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE.

    The Interagency Committee on Debarment and Suspension shall--
            (1) resolve issues regarding which of several Federal 
        agencies is the lead agency having responsibility to initiate 
        suspension or debarment proceedings;
            (2) coordinate actions among interested agencies with 
        respect to such action;
            (3) encourage and assist Federal agencies in entering into 
        cooperative efforts to pool resources and achieve operational 
        efficiencies in the governmentwide suspension and debarment 
        system;
            (4) recommend to the Office of Management and Budget 
        changes to Government debarment and suspension system and its 
        rules, if such recommendations are approved by a majority of 
        the Interagency Committee;
            (5) authorize the Office of Management and Budget to issue 
        guidelines that implement those recommendations;
            (6) authorize the chair of the Committee to establish 
        subcommittees as appropriate to best enable the Interagency 
        Committee to carry out its functions; and
            (7) submit to the Congress an annual report on--
                    (A) the progress and efforts to improve the 
                suspension and debarment system;
                    (B) member agencies' active participation in the 
                committee's work; and
                    (C) a summary of each agency's activities and 
                accomplishments in the governmentwide debarment system.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF INDEPENDENT AGENCIES.

    Any agency, commission, or organization of the Federal Government 
to which Executive Order 12549 does not apply is authorized to 
participate in the governmentwide suspension and debarment system and 
may recognize the suspension or debarment issued by an executive branch 
agency in its own procurement or assistance activities.

SEC. 8. USE OF PAYMENTS UNDER ADMINISTRATIVE AGREEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--A Federal agency may--
            (1) retain amounts described in subsection (b); and
            (2) use those amounts solely--
                    (A) to administer, review, or oversee compliance 
                with suspension or debarment administrative agreements; 
                and
                    (B) for costs associated with establishing and 
                maintaining the database under section 3, including for 
                input and update of information in the database.
    (b) Amounts Described.--The amounts referred to in subsection (a) 
are amounts received by the agency as payment made by any Federal 
contractor or assistance participant pursuant to an administrative 
agreement with respect to a Federal contract or assistance activity.
    (c) Restriction.--Amounts retained under subsection (a)(1) may not 
be used for agency administration or expenses not described in 
subsection (a)(2).

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Interagency committee.--The term ``Interagency 
        Committee on Debarment and Suspension'' means such committee 
        constituted under sections 4 and 5 and of Executive Order 
        12549.
            (2) Assistance.--The term ``assistance'' means Federal 
        grants, cooperative agreements, loans, loan guarantees, and 
        other benefits included as covered transactions under the 
        governmentwide nonprocurement suspension and debarment rules.
            (3) Contract.--The term ``contract'' means those direct 
        procurement transactions covered by subpart 9.4 of the Federal 
        Acquisition Regulation.
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