[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3033 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3033

    To improve Federal agency awards and oversight of contracts and 
  assistance and to strengthen accountability of the Government-wide 
                    suspension and debarment system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 12, 2007

  Mrs. Maloney of New York (for herself and Mr. Towns) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To improve Federal agency awards and oversight of contracts and 
  assistance and to strengthen accountability of the Government-wide 
                    suspension and debarment 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 and Federal Spending 
Accountability Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Need for database.--(A) By spending over 
        $419,000,000,000 on procurement awards for fiscal year 2006 and 
        $440,000,000,000 on grants for fiscal year 2005 for goods and 
        services, the Federal Government is the largest purchaser of 
        goods and services in the world.
            (B) It is required by law and in the best interest of the 
        Federal Government and its taxpayers to award contract and 
        assistance to persons that are responsible and have a suitable 
        record of integrity and business ethics.
            (C) The Past Performance Information Retrieval System 
        (PPIRS), the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), the Central 
        Contracting Registration (CCR), the Federal Procurement Data 
        System (FPDS), and the Federal Assistance Award Data System 
        (FAADS) include records and data related to contractors and 
        Federal spending. However, there is no centralized, 
        comprehensive Government database on judicial actions, consent 
        decrees, administrative agreements, terminations, or 
        settlements with respect to potential Federal contractors or 
        assistance participants.
            (D) The lack of this information compromises the Federal 
        Government's ability to safeguard the integrity of the Federal 
        procurement and assistance activities.
            (E) 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 suspensions and debarments of top 50 federal 
        contractors.--
                    (A) According to the Department of Justice, the 
                Government recovered a record $3,100,000,000 in 
                settlements and judgments in cases involving 
                allegations of fraud against the Government in fiscal 
                year 2006 and has recovered $18,000,000,000 since 1996.
                    (B) According to the Project on Government 
                Oversight's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database, 
                since 1995, of the top 50 Federal contractors based on 
                total contract dollars received, 9 have a total of 12 
                resolved criminal cases totaling $161,000,000 in 
                penalties paid.
                    (C) According to the Project on Government 
                Oversight's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database, 
                since 1995, such 50 contractors have paid approximately 
                $12,000,000,000 in fines, penalties, restitution, and 
                settlements, and more than 350 instances of misconduct 
                have been identified.
            (3) Need for database not fulfilled.--
                    (A) There is no centralized, comprehensive 
                Government listing of criminal or civil indictments, 
                convictions, fines, penalties, restitution, 
                administrative agreements, and settlement assessments 
                relating to contractors or assistance participants.
                    (B) Prospective Federal contractors are required to 
                have a satisfactory record of integrity and business 
                ethics pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 
                subpart 9.104, and assistance participants must be 
                credible, but they are not required to disclose all 
                relevant criminal, civil, or administrative rulings or 
                resolutions during the Federal procurement or 
                assistance award process.
                    (C) Without such a database or disclosure, Federal 
                contracting officers and suspension and debarment 
                officials lack important information relevant to 
                present responsibility.

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

    (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 contracting officers, Federal officials having authority to 
suspend or debar persons from Federal contracts or assistance, and 
Federal officials having authority over grant assistance.
    (b) Information Included.--The database--
            (1) shall consist of information regarding civil, criminal, 
        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 person 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 suspensions and debarments of the 
                person in that period;
                    (E) all Federal suspension and debarment show cause 
                orders received by the person in that period; and
                    (F) all 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 by posting the 
database on the General Services Administration website.

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 a person shall be presumed 
nonresponsible with respect to award of a Federal contract or 
assistance if the person has rendered against the person 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 Government-wide debarment system.
    (b) Rebuttal.--The presumption under subsection (a) shall be 
rebutted only if the person demonstrates, by clear and convincing 
evidence, that the person is presently responsible and has corrected 
the conditions that gave rise to the violations.
    (c) Repeat Violations.--An agency suspension and debarment official 
may deem evidence of repeat violations under subsection (a) as 
sufficient reason to find that immediate action is necessary to suspend 
a person under the regulations until the person 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, a person shall 
disclose in writing--
            (1) all Federal or State suspensions or debarments of the 
        person from contracts or assistance in the 5-year period 
        preceding the date of submission of the application;
            (2) all suspension and debarment show cause orders with 
        respect to Federal contracts or assistance that the person is 
        implementing within 5 years after the date of submission of the 
        application.
            (3) all civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings 
        against the person by the Federal Government or any State that 
        occurred in the 5-year period preceding the date of submission 
        of the application;
            (4) all administrative, civil, and criminal settlements, 
        agreements, consent decrees, enforcement actions, corrective 
        actions, compelling reason waivers, and other like judgments, 
        orders, decisions, and final dispositions with respect to 
        Federal contracts or assistance that the person is implementing 
        within 5 years after the date of submission of the application; 
        and
            (5) all Federal contracts and assistance awarded to the 
        person that were terminated due to default in the 5-year period 
        preceding the date of 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 suspension and debarment 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. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of 
General Services such funds as may be necessary to establish the 
database for contracting officers and suspension and debarment 
officials under section 3.

SEC. 9. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services shall 
submit to Congress a report.
    (b) Contents of Report.--The report shall contain the following:
            (1) A list of all databases that include information about 
        Federal contracting and Federal assistance.
            (2) Recommendations for further legislation or 
        administrative action that the Administrator considers 
        appropriate to create a centralized, comprehensive Federal 
        contracting and Federal assistance database.

SEC. 10. 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.
                                 <all>