[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 158 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5663-S5664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 6111. Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. Rubio, Ms. Hassan, and Mr.
Peters) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA
5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to
be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense,
for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department
of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal
year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:
At the end of subtitle E of title VIII, add the following:
SEC. 875. GOVERNMENTWIDE PROCUREMENT POLICY AND GUIDANCE TO
MITIGATE ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
RELATING TO NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN
POLICY.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Federal Government's reliance on contractors for
mission support services can create potential organizational
conflicts of interest related to national security due to
competing interests as a result of business relationships
with foreign adversarial nations and entities.
(2) It is imperative that contractors providing mission
support services to the Federal Government related to the
national security are not providing mission support services
for foreign adversaries with regards to efforts that are
counter to the national security and foreign policy interests
of the United States, including for crimes against humanity
declared by the Secretary of State.
(3) Protecting against organizational conflicts of interest
related to foreign adversarial nations and entities in
Federal mission support services is essential to the national
security and economic security of the United States.
(b) Policy and Guidance.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Office of Federal Procurement
Policy, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies,
including the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of
Commerce, the Secretary of
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Homeland Security, the Secretary of the Treasury, the
Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, and
the Secretary of State, shall develop governmentwide
procurement policy and guidance to mitigate and eliminate
organizational conflict of interests relating to contracts
involving national security matters or foreign policy
interests.
(2) Elements.--The procurement policy and guidance
developed under paragraph (1) shall include the following
elements:
(A) Updating guidance relating to organizational conflicts
of interest with foreign entities and governments that are
contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests
of the United States.
(B) Providing a definition of ``consulting contract'',
considering the definitions of ``advisory and assistance
services'' and ``professional and consultant services''
provided under sections 2.101 and 31.205-33, respectively, of
the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
(C) Providing executive agencies with solicitation
provisions and contract clauses that require offerors and
contractors for Federal consulting contracts--
(i) when submitting an offer, to disclose any beneficial
ownership, active contracts, contracts held within the last
five years, or any other information relevant to potential
organizational conflicts of interest with respect to
contracts described in paragraph (3); and
(ii) while performing the resulting contract, to disclose
information relevant to potential organizational conflicts of
interest and to limit future work as necessary to address
potential conflicts with respect to contracts described in
paragraph (3).
(D) Providing that organizational conflicts of interest
found to be contrary to the national security or foreign
policy interests of the United States may be grounds for
denial of a contract, and failure to disclose such a
potential conflict may be grounds for termination for cause,
suspension, or debarment of a contractor.
(3) Contracts described.--Contracts described in this
paragraph are the following:
(A) Contracts with any of the following entities:
(i) The Government of the People's Republic of China.
(ii) The Chinese Communist Party.
(iii) Any Chinese state-owned entity.
(iv) The People's Liberation Army.
(v) 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.
(vi) 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).
(vii) 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 (``Blocking
Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation
in Ukraine'').
(viii) The government or any state-owned entity of any
country determined by the Secretary of State to be a state
sponsor of terrorism under section 1754(c) of the John S.
McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2019 (50 U.S.C. 4813(c)), section 40 of the Arms Export
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2779A), or section 620A of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371).
(ix) 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 under subchapter
C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal 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.
(IV) The Military End User List set forth in Supplement No.
7 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations.
(x) An entity determined to pose a risk to the national
security or foreign policy interests of the United States, as
determined by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in
coordination with the heads of relevant agencies listed in
subsection (b)(1).
(B) Contracts for consulting services relating to any
crimes against humanity as determined by the Secretary of
State.
(c) Revision of Federal Acquisition Regulation.--Not later
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall revise the
Federal Acquisition Regulation to implement the requirements
of this section.
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