[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 803 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 803

 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance the procurement-
  related activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 5, 2007

    Mr. Carney (for himself, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr. Thompson of 
 Mississippi, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Dicks, Mr. Shays, Ms. Harman, 
Mr. Souder, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. McCaul of Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, 
Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Cuellar, and Mr. Al 
 Green of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance the procurement-
  related activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Department of Homeland Security 
Procurement Improvement Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. HOMELAND SECURITY PROCUREMENT TRAINING.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle D of title VIII of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 836. HOMELAND SECURITY PROCUREMENT TRAINING.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Chief Procurement Officer shall provide 
homeland security procurement training to acquisition employees.
    ``(b) Responsibilities of Chief Procurement Officer.--The Chief 
Procurement Officer shall carry out the following responsibilities:
            ``(1) Establish objectives to achieve the efficient and 
        effective use of available acquisition resources by 
        coordinating the acquisition education and training programs of 
        the Department and tailoring them to support the careers of 
        acquisition employees.
            ``(2) Develop, in consultation with the Council on 
        Procurement Training established under subsection (d), the 
        curriculum of the homeland security procurement training to be 
        provided.
            ``(3) Establish, in consultation with the Council on 
        Procurement Training, training standards, requirements, and 
        courses to be required for acquisition employees.
            ``(4) Establish an appropriate centralized mechanism to 
        control the allocation of resources for conducting such 
        required courses and other training and education.
            ``(5) Select course providers and certify courses to ensure 
        that the procurement training curriculum supports a coherent 
        framework for the educational development of acquisition 
        employees, including the provision of basic, intermediate, and 
        advanced courses, as well as training on the SAFETY Act (6 
        U.S.C. 441).
            ``(6) Publish an annual catalog that includes a list of the 
        acquisition education and training courses.
            ``(7) Develop a system of maintaining records of student 
        enrollment, and other data related to students and courses 
        conducted pursuant to this section.
    ``(c) Provision of Instruction.--The Chief Procurement Officer 
shall provide procurement training to acquisition employees of any 
agency under subsection (d)(3). The appropriate member of the Council 
on Procurement Training may direct such an employee to receive 
procurement training.
    ``(d) Council on Procurement Training.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a 
        Council on Procurement Training to advise and make policy and 
        curriculum recommendations to the Chief Procurement Officer.
            ``(2) Chair of council.--The chair of the Council on 
        Procurement Training shall be the Deputy Chief Procurement 
        Officer.
            ``(3) Members.--The members of the Council on Procurement 
        Training are the chief procurement officers of each of the 
        following:
                    ``(A) United States Customs and Border Protection.
                    ``(B) The Transportation Security Administration.
                    ``(C) The Office of Procurement Operations.
                    ``(D) The Bureau of Immigration and Customs 
                Enforcement.
                    ``(E) The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
                    ``(F) The Coast Guard.
                    ``(G) The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
                    ``(H) The United States Secret Service.
                    ``(I) Such other entity as the Secretary determines 
                is appropriate.
    ``(e) Acquisition Employee Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
the term `acquisition employee' means an employee serving under a 
career or career-conditional appointment in the competitive service or 
appointment of equivalent tenure in the excepted service of the Federal 
Government, at least 50 percent of whose assigned duties include 
acquisitions, procurement-related program management, or procurement-
related oversight functions.
    ``(f) Report Required.--Not later than March 1 of each year, the 
Chief Procurement Officer shall submit to the Secretary a report on the 
procurement training provided under this section, which shall include 
information about student enrollment, students who enroll but do not 
attend courses, graduates, certifications, and other relevant 
information.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to such 
subtitle the following:

``Sec. 836. Homeland security procurement training.''.

SEC. 3. CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Such subtitle is further amended by adding at the 
end the following:

``SEC. 837. CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS.

    ``(a) Attestation Required.--The Secretary shall require any 
offeror for any contract to provide goods or services to the Department 
to submit as part of the offeror's bid for such contract an attestation 
that affirmatively discloses any substantial role the offeror, the 
employees of the offeror, or any corporate parent or subsidiary of the 
offeror may have played in creating a solicitation, request for 
proposal, statement of work, or statement of objectives (as those terms 
are defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation) for the Department.
    ``(b) Additional Requirements for Certain Offerors.--If an offeror 
submits an attestation under subparagraph (a) that discloses that the 
offeror, the employees of the offeror, or any corporate parent or 
subsidiary of the offeror played a substantial role in creating a 
solicitation, request for proposal, statement of work, or statement of 
objectives for the Department, the Secretary shall require the offeror 
to submit to the Secretary a description of the safeguards used to 
ensure that precautions were in place to prevent the offeror from 
receiving information through such role that could be used to provide 
the offeror an undue advantage in submitting an offer for a contract.
    ``(c) Certification Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall require any offeror 
        for any contract to provide goods or services to the Department 
        to submit to the Secretary as part of the offeror's bid for 
        such contract a certification in writing whether, as of the 
        date on which the certification is submitted, the offeror--
                    ``(A) is in default on any payment of any tax to 
                the Federal Government; or
                    ``(B) owes the Federal Government for any payment 
                of any delinquent tax.
            ``(2) Failure of certification.--Nothing in this section 
        shall prevent the Department from awarding a contract to an 
        offeror based solely on the offeror's certification.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is further amended by adding at the end of the items relating 
to such subtitle the following:

``Sec. 837. Contracting requirements.''.

SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS TO REVIEW PAST PERFORMANCE OF 
              CONTRACTORS.

    (a) In General.--Such subtitle is further amended by adding at the 
end the following new section:

``SEC. 838. REVIEW OF CONTRACTOR PAST PERFORMANCE.

    ``(a) Consideration of Contractor Past Performance.--In awarding a 
contract to a contractor, the Secretary shall consider the past 
performance of that contractor based on the review conducted under 
subsection (b).
    ``(b) Review Required.--Before awarding to a contractor (including 
a contractor that has previously provided goods or services to the 
Department) a contract to provide goods or services to the Department, 
the Secretary, acting through the appropriate contracting officer of 
the Department, shall require the contractor to submit information 
regarding the contractor's performance of Federal, State, and local 
government and private sector contracts.
    ``(c) Contact of Relevant Officials.--As part of any review of a 
contractor conducted under subsection (b), the Secretary, acting 
through an appropriate contracting officer of the Department, shall 
contact the relevant official who administered or oversaw each contract 
performed by that contractor during the five-year period preceding the 
date on which the review begins.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to such 
subtitle the following:

``Sec. 838. Review of contractor past performance.''.

SEC. 5. PURCHASE CARDS.

    (a) Review Required.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
            (1) review and strengthen the policy governing the use of 
        purchase cards that the Department provides to employees of the 
        Department for use in conducting official business; and
            (2) issue Department-wide guidance on such policy.
    (b) Distribution of Policy.--The Secretary shall distribute the 
policy or guidance developed under subsection (a) to each employee who 
possesses or is entitled to possess a purchase card provided by the 
Department.
    (c) Requirement to Inform Employees.--Upon distribution of the 
policy or guidance under subsection (b), the Secretary shall ensure 
that all employees of the Department who are entitled to possess a 
purchase card issued by the Department have reviewed the policy or 
guidance.

SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 
              CONTRACTING.

    Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on the 
contracting processes of the Department of Homeland Security. The 
report shall contain the findings of the Comptroller General with 
respect to any improvements in such processes that could be made 
through the use of new technologies.
                                 <all>