[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4685 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4685
To prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with
consultancies providing services to certain foreign entities, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 4, 2026
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with
consultancies providing services to certain foreign entities, 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 ``Ending Double Dealing Act of 2026''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH CERTAIN CONSULTANCIES.
(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, extend a contract
with, award a grant to, enter into an other transactional
agreement with, or otherwise effectuate any legal instrument
resulting in any financial benefit accruing to, a covered
consultancy.
(2) Disclosure.--Any individual or entity that submits an
offer or bid 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; or
(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 pursuant to 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 has any
unobligated or unexpended funds received, from
a covered entity; and
(B) will not enter into, accept, 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 for the purposes of this
section 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) Policies and Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue the following
policies and practices:
(1) Policies to implement the prohibition under subsection
(b)(1).
(2) Best practices for consultancies 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 to
be included in solicitations, contracts, and grants of the
Department of Defense pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of
subsection (b).
(e) Revision of Department of Defense Acquisition Regulation.--Not
later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall amend 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) Contract employee.--The term ``contract employee''
means--
(A) an employee of a contractor; or
(B) in the case of a contractor who is an
individual who directly enters into a contract with the
Federal Government, that individual.
(3) Contractor.--The term ``contractor'' has the meaning
given the term in section 7101 of title 41, United States Code.
(4) Covered consultancy.--The term ``covered consultancy''
means a company that, itself or any subsidiary or affiliate
thereof, in the later of the five-year period preceding the
date of the relevant requirement or the effective date of the
relevant requirement--
(A) failed to disclose information to the Secretary
related to any activities involving a covered entity as
required by any law, regulation, or contract term, or
terms of other agreements;
(B) was found to have submitted false or misleading
information to any Federal agency in any Federal
proceeding; or
(C) was found to have failed to disclose an actual
or potential conflict of interest as required by any
law, regulation, or contract term to any Federal agency
or in any Federal proceeding.
(5) 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 any 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 entity owned (25 percent or more) or
controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Government
of the People's Republic of China or the Chinese
Communist Party, including through board
representation, voting rights, contractual
arrangements, or other means of effective control, that
is engaged in one or more national security industries.
(G) The Government of the Russian Federation, any
entity owned (25 percent or more) or controlled,
directly or indirectly by the Russian Federation, or
any entity sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury.
(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.
4813(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.
(K) A foreign adversary, as that term is defined in
this subsection.
(L) An individual or entity included on any
sanctions list administered by the Office of Foreign
Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury or of
the Department of Justice, including any successor
list.
(6) 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.
(7) Foreign adversary.--The term ``foreign adversary''
means the following:
(A) The Democratic People's Republic of North
Korea.
(B) The People's Republic of China.
(C) The Russian Federation.
(D) The Islamic Republic of Iran.
(E) The Republic of Cuba.
(F) Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro (the
Maduro Regime).
(8) National security industry.--The term ``national
security industry'' means--
(A) a military-related industry;
(B) semiconductor production;
(C) researching or commercializing quantum
computing;
(D) developing artificial intelligence products or
services;
(E) the biotechnology industry;
(F) the cybersecurity industry;
(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; or
(H) other emerging technologies (as that term is
defined in section 6701 of the Intelligence
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (division F of
Public Law 117-263; 50 U.S.C. 3024 note)).
(9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Defense.
<all>