[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2034 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2034

 To require the Secretary of Defense to develop procurement policy and 
 guidance to mitigate consulting company conflict of interests related 
                to national security and foreign policy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 15, 2023

   Ms. Ernst (for herself, Mr. Kelly, and Ms. Hassan) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Defense to develop procurement policy and 
 guidance to mitigate consulting company conflict of interests related 
                to national security and foreign policy.

    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 ``Combating Obstructive National 
Security Underreporting of Legitimate Threats Act of 2023'' or the 
``CONSULT Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTERESTS RELATING TO NATIONAL 
              SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The reliance by the Department of Defense on 
        consultants for mission support services can create potential 
        organizational conflicts of interest related to national 
        security matters due to competing interests as a result of 
        business relationships with foreign adversarial nations and 
        entities.
            (2) It is imperative for consultants providing mission 
        support services to the Department of Defense related to 
        national security matters and foreign policy interests to not 
        be providing mission support services to foreign adversaries 
        regarding efforts counter to the national security and foreign 
        policy interests of the United States.
            (3) Protecting against organizational conflicts of interest 
        related to foreign adversarial nations and entities providing 
        Federal mission support services is essential to the national 
        security and foreign policy interests of the United States.
    (b) Prohibition Related to Certain Contracts or Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary may not after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act enter into, renew, or extend a 
        contract with, or award a grant to, a covered consultancy.
            (2) Disclosure.--Any individual or entity that submits an 
        offer or bid for a contract to provide consulting services to 
        the Department of Defense shall disclose in such offer or bid 
        any information relevant to the individual or entity with 
        respect to the prohibition under paragraph (1), including--
                    (A) whether the individual or entity has entered 
                into a contract with, or received grants or other 
                financial awards from, a covered entity in the five 
                years prior to submitting the offer or bid; and
                    (B) at the time the contract to provide consulting 
                services to the Department will be entered into, 
                whether--
                            (i) any contract entered into by the 
                        individual or entity with a covered entity will 
                        still be in effect; and
                            (ii) the individual or entity will be 
                        receiving funds from, or have any unobligated 
                        or unexpended funds received under, any grant 
                        or other financial award from a covered entity.
            (3) Penalties.--
                    (A) In general.--If the Secretary determines that a 
                contractor of the Department failed to make the 
                disclosure required by paragraph (2), the Secretary 
                shall--
                            (i) terminate the applicable contract for 
                        cause; and
                            (ii) initiate a suspension and debarment 
                        proceeding with respect to the contractor.
                    (B) Maximum length of debarment.--The maximum 
                length of a debarment of a contractor under this 
                paragraph shall be a period of 5 years.
    (c) Certification.--
            (1) In general.--After a determination by the Secretary 
        that a company is a covered consultancy, such company may 
        submit to the Secretary a written and signed certification 
        that--
                    (A) the consultancy no longer is--
                            (i) performing under a contract with a 
                        covered entity;
                            (ii) carrying out activities under a grant 
                        received from a covered entity; or
                            (iii) receiving funds, or have any 
                        unobligated or unexpended funds received, from 
                        a covered entity; and
                    (B) will not receive or pursue a contract with a 
                covered entity or a grant or other financial award from 
                a covered entity--
                            (i) during the term of a contract with the 
                        Department of Defense; or
                            (ii) while receiving funds from the 
                        Department of Defense, or obligating or 
                        expending any such funds.
            (2) Status change.--Upon the approval by the Secretary of a 
        certification submitted under paragraph (1), a company is 
        deemed to not be a covered consultancy until the expiration of 
        the certification under paragraph (3).
            (3) Expiration.--A certification submitted by a company 
        under paragraph (1) shall expire on the earlier of the date on 
        which the company, after submitting such certification enters 
        into, extends, renews, or performs under a contract with a 
        covered entity for consulting services.
    (d) Guidance.--The Secretary shall issue procurement policies for 
the Department of Defense as follows:
            (1) Policies to implement the prohibition under subsection 
        (b)(1).
            (2) Best practices to avoid becoming covered consultancies 
        under this section and for covered consultancies to end their 
        status as such.
            (3) A policy articulating the exact provisions and terms 
        relating to the requirements of paragraphs (2) and (3) of 
        subsection (b) to be included in solicitations, contracts, and 
        grants of the Department.
    (e) Revision of Department of Defense Acquisition Regulation.--Not 
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall revise the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 
Supplement to implement this section.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Consulting services.--The term ``consulting services'' 
        has the meaning given the term ``advisory and assistance 
        services'' in section 2.101 of the Federal Acquisition 
        Regulation, except that--
                    (A) the term does not include the services 
                described in paragraph (3) of such section; and
                    (B) each instance of the term ``Federal'' is 
                replaced with ``client''.
            (2) Covered consultancy.--The term ``covered consultancy'' 
        means a company that, itself or any subsidiary or affiliate 
        thereof, in immediately preceding one year period entered into, 
        extended, renewed, or performed under a contract with a covered 
        entity for consulting services.
            (3) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means any 
        of the following:
                    (A) The Government of the People's Republic of 
                China.
                    (B) The Chinese Communist Party.
                    (C) The People's Liberation Army, the Ministry of 
                State Security, or other security service or 
                intelligence agency of the People's Republic of China.
                    (D) Any entity on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-
                Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC-List) 
                maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 
                the Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 
                14032 (86 Fed. Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the 
                threat from securities investments that finance certain 
                companies of the People's Republic of China), or any 
                successor order.
                    (E) Any Chinese military company identified by the 
                Secretary of Defense pursuant to section 1237(b) of the 
                Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for 
                Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261; 50 U.S.C. 1701 
                note).
                    (F) Any Chinese State-owned entity or other entity 
                under the ownership, or control, directly or 
                indirectly, of the Government of the People's Republic 
                of China or the Chinese Communist Party that is engaged 
                in one or more national security industries.
                    (G) The Government of the Russian Federation, any 
                Russian State-owned entity, or any entity sanctioned by 
                the Secretary of the Treasury under Executive Order 
                13662 titled ``Blocking Property of Additional Persons 
                Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine''(79 Fed. Reg. 
                16169).
                    (H) The government or any State-owned entity of any 
                country if the Secretary of State determines that such 
                government has repeatedly provided support for acts of 
                international terrorism pursuant to--
                            (i) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 
                        Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 
                        4318(c)(1)(A));
                            (ii) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 
                        Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371);
                            (iii) section 40 of the Arms Export Control 
                        Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); or
                            (iv) any other provision of law.
                    (I) Any entity included on any of the following 
                lists maintained by the Department of Commerce:
                            (i) The Entity List set forth in Supplement 
                        No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration 
                        Regulations.
                            (ii) The Denied Persons List as described 
                        in section 764.3(a)(2) of the Export 
                        Administration Regulations.
                            (iii) The Unverified List set forth in 
                        Supplement No. 6 to part 744 of the Export 
                        Administration Regulations.
                    (J) The Military End User List set forth in 
                Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of the Export 
                Administration Regulations.
            (4) Export administration regulations.--The term ``Export 
        Administration Regulations'' means the regulations set forth in 
        subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal 
        Regulations.
            (5) National security industry.--The term ``national 
        security industry'' means--
                    (A) a military-related industry;
                    (B) semiconductor production;
                    (C) researching or commercializing quantum 
                computing;
                    (D) producing products or services that use 
                artificial intelligence;
                    (E) the biotechnology industry;
                    (F) the cybersecurity industry; or
                    (G) the mining, processing, or refining of critical 
                minerals (as such term is defined in section 7002(a) of 
                the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a))) for use by 
                a covered entity.
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Defense.
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