[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5177 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5177

 To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of 
    Defense, in awarding a contract for the procurement of goods or 
 services, to give a preference to offerors that employ veterans, and 
                          for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2018

  Mr. Knight (for himself and Mrs. Murphy of Florida) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

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                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of 
    Defense, in awarding a contract for the procurement of goods or 
 services, to give a preference to offerors that employ veterans, 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 ``Encouraging Veteran Employment Act 
of 2018''.

SEC. 2. PREFERENCE FOR OFFERORS EMPLOYING VETERANS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 137 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 2339a. Preference for offerors employing veterans
    ``(a) Preference.--In awarding a contract for the procurement of 
goods or services for the Department of Defense, the head of an agency 
may give a preference to offerors that employ veterans on a full-time 
basis. The Secretary of Defense shall determine such preference based 
on the percentage of the full-time employees of the offeror who are 
veterans.
    ``(b) Enforcement Penalties for Misrepresentation.--(1) If the head 
of an agency determines that an offeror willfully and intentionally 
misrepresented the veteran status of the employees of the offeror in a 
bid submitted under subsection (a), such head of an agency may suspend 
or debar such offeror for a period of not less than five years.
    ``(2) Not later than 30 days after determining that an offeror 
should be suspended or debarred under paragraph (1), the head of an 
agency making such determination shall initiate a suspension or 
debarment proceeding, as applicable, against the offeror. The head of 
an agency shall complete such an action not later than 90 days after 
initiating such action.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
2339 the following new item:

``2339a. Preference for offerors employing veterans.''.
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