[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2008 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2008

 To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit inserting politics 
 into the Federal acquisition process by prohibiting the submission of 
   political contribution information as a condition of receiving a 
                           Federal contract.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 2011

Mr. Issa (for himself, Mr. Cole, Mr. Graves of Missouri, Mr. Amash, Mr. 
Gowdy, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Ross of Florida, Mr. McHenry, Mr. Walberg, and 
  Mr. Kelly) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit inserting politics 
 into the Federal acquisition process by prohibiting the submission of 
   political contribution information as a condition of receiving a 
                           Federal contract.

    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 ``Keeping Politics Out of Federal 
Contracting Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN USES OF POLITICAL INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 41, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 4712. Prohibition on certain uses of political information
    ``(a) Prohibition on Requiring Submission of Political 
Information.--The head of an executive agency may not require a 
contractor to submit political information related to the contractor or 
a subcontractor at any tier, or any partner, officer, director, or 
employee of the contractor or subcontractor--
            ``(1) as part of a solicitation, request for bid, request 
        for proposal, or any other form of communication designed to 
        solicit offers in connection with the award of a contract for 
        procurement of property or services;
            ``(2) during the course of contract performance as part of 
        the process associated with modifying a contract or exercising 
        a contract option; or
            ``(3) any time prior to contract completion and final 
        contract closeout.
    ``(b) Prohibition on Use of Political Information.--The head of an 
executive agency may not use political information, whether obtained 
from a contractor or prospective contractor or from an independent 
public or nonpublic source, as a factor or consideration in the source 
selection process used to award a competitive or non-competitive 
contract at any value or in making any decision associated with the 
modification of a contract or the exercise of a contract option.
    ``(c) Prohibition on Inclusion of Political Information in 
Contracting Databases.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided under paragraph (2), 
        an executive agency may not include political information in 
        the contracting past performance database or any database 
        designed to provide information to a contracting officer for 
        purposes of supporting the responsibility determination by such 
        officer.
            ``(2) Exception for disclosure of certain violations.--
                    ``(A) Exception.--Data required as of the date of 
                the enactment of the Keeping Politics Out of Federal 
                Contracting Act of 2011 to be included in the database 
                maintained under section 2313 of this title are not 
                subject to the prohibition under paragraph (1).
                    ``(B) Rule of construction.--Notwithstanding 
                subparagraph (A), this paragraph shall not be construed 
                as authorizing the inclusion of political information 
                pursuant to subsection (c)(6) of such section.
    ``(d) Applicability.--The prohibitions under this section apply to 
the procurement of commercial items, the procurement of commercial off-
the-shelf items, and the non-commercial procurement of supplies, 
property, services, and manufactured items, irrespective of contract 
vehicle, including contracts, purchase orders, task or deliver orders 
under indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts, blanket 
purchase agreements, and basic ordering agreements.
    ``(e) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed as waiving, superseding, restricting, or limiting the 
application of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 
et seq.) or preventing Federal regulatory or law enforcement agencies 
from collecting or receiving information authorized by law.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Acquisition.--The term `acquisition' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 131 of this title.
            ``(2) Contractor.--The term `contractor' includes 
        contractors, bidders, and offerors, and individuals and legal 
        entities who would reasonably be expected to submit offers or 
        bids for Federal Government contracts.
            ``(3) Executive agency.--The term `executive agency' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 133 of this title.
            ``(4) Political information.--The term `political 
        information' means information relating to political spending, 
        including any payment consisting of a contribution, 
        expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an 
        electioneering communication that is made by the contractor, 
        any of its partners, officers, directors or employees, or any 
        of its affiliates or subsidiaries to a candidate or on behalf 
        of a candidate for election for Federal office, to a political 
        committee, to a political party, to a third-party entity with 
        the intention or reasonable expectation that it would use the 
        payment to make independent expenditures or electioneering 
        communications, or that is otherwise made with respect to any 
        election for Federal office, party affiliation, and voting 
        history. Each of the terms `contribution', `expenditure', 
        `independent expenditure', `candidate', `election', 
        `electioneering communication', and `Federal office' has the 
        meaning given the term in the Federal Campaign Act of 1971 (2 
        U.S.C. 431 et seq.).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 47 of title 41, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 4711 the following new item:

``4712. Prohibition on Certain Uses of Political Information.''
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