I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4259 

To prevent human trafficking in government contracting. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2012 

Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. ISSA, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To prevent human trafficking in government contracting. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Trafficking in 

5 Government Contracting Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

9 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 133 of title 41, United States Code. 


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1 (2) SUBCONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘subcon2 tractor’’ means a recipient of a contract at any tier 

3 under a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 

4 (3) SUBGRANTEE.—The term ‘‘subgrantee’’ 

5 means a recipient of a grant at any tier under a 

6 grant or cooperative agreement. 

7 (4) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United 

8 States’’ has the meaning provided in section 103(12) 

9 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

10 (22 U.S.C. 7102(12)). 

11 SEC. 3. CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

12 Section 106(g) of the Trafficking Victims Protection 

13 Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)) is amended by striking 

14 ‘‘if the grantee or any subgrantee,’’ and all that follows 

15 through the period at the end and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘or take any of the other remedial actions authorized 

17 under section 5(c) of the End Trafficking in Government 

18 Contracting Act of 2012, if the grantee or any subgrantee, 

19 or the contractor or any subcontractor, engages in, or uses 

20 labor recruiters, brokers, or other agents who engage in, 

21 (i) severe forms of trafficking in persons, (ii) the procure22 ment of a commercial sex act during the period of time 

23 that the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement is in 

24 effect, (iii) the use of forced labor in the performance of 

25 the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, or (iv) acts 


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1 that directly support or advance trafficking in persons, in2 cluding the following acts: 

3 ‘‘(1) Destroying, concealing, removing, or con4 fiscating an employee’s immigration documents with5 out the employee’s consent. 

6 ‘‘(2) Failing to repatriate an employee upon the 

7 end of employment, unless— 

8 ‘‘(A) exempted from the duty to repatriate 

9 the employee by the Federal department or 

10 agency providing or entering into the grant, 

11 contract, or cooperative agreement; or 

12 ‘‘(B) the employee is a victim of human 

13 trafficking seeking victim services or legal re14 dress in the country of employment or a witness 

15 in a human trafficking enforcement action. 

16 ‘‘(3) Soliciting a person for the purpose of em17 ployment, or offering employment, by means of ma18 terially false or fraudulent pretenses, representa19 tions, or promises regarding that employment. 

20 ‘‘(4) Charging recruited employees exorbitant 

21 placement fees, including fees equal to or greater 

22 than the employee’s monthly salary, or recruitment 

23 fees that violate the laws of the country from which 

24 an employee is recruited. 

25 ‘‘(5) Providing inhumane living conditions.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE PLAN AND CERTIFICATION REQUIRE2 MENT. 

3 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The head of an executive agen4 cy may not provide or enter into a grant, contract, or coop5 erative agreement valued at $1,000,000 or more if per6 formance will predominantly be conducted overseas, unless 

7 a duly designated representative of the recipient of such 

8 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement certifies to the 

9 contracting or grant officer prior to receiving an award 

10 and on an annual basis thereafter, after having conducted 

11 due diligence, that— 

12 (1) the recipient has implemented a plan to pre13 vent the activities described in section 106(g) of the 

14 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

15 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as amended by section 3, and is in 

16 compliance with that plan; 

17 (2) the recipient has implemented procedures to 

18 prevent any activities described in such section 

19 106(g) and to monitor, detect, and terminate any 

20 subcontractor, subgrantee, or employee of the recipi21 ent found to be engaged in any activities described 

22 in such section; and 

23 (3) to the best of the representative’s knowl24 edge, neither the recipient, nor any subcontractor or 

25 subgrantee of the recipient or any agent of the re26 cipient or of such a subcontractor or subgrantee, is 


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1 engaged in any of the activities described in such 

2 section. 

3 (b) LIMITATION.—Any plan or procedures imple4 mented pursuant to subsection (a) shall be appropriate to 

5 the size and complexity of the grant, contract, or coopera6 tive agreement and to the nature and scope of its activi7 ties, including the number of non-United States citizens 

8 expected to be employed. 

9 (c) DISCLOSURE.—The recipient shall provide a copy 

10 of the plan to the contracting or grant officer upon re11 quest, and, as appropriate, shall post the useful and rel12 evant contents of the plan or related materials on its 

13 website and at the workplace. 

14 (d) PERFORMANCE PREDOMINATELY OVERSEAS.— 

15 For purposes of subsection (a), a grant, contract, or coop16 erative agreement shall be considered to be performed pre17 dominantly overseas if the estimated value of the services 

18 required to be performed under the grant, contract, or co19 operative agreement outside the United States exceeds 

20 $500,000. 

21 SEC. 5. MONITORING AND INVESTIGATION OF TRAF22 FICKING IN PERSONS. 

23 (a) INVESTIGATION.—If the contracting or grant offi24 cer of an executive agency for a grant, contract, or cooper25 ative agreement receives credible evidence that a recipient 


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1 of the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement; any sub2 grantee or subcontractor of the recipient; or any agent of 

3 the recipient or of such a subgrantee or subcontractor, has 

4 engaged in an activity described in section 106(g) of the 

5 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

6 7104(g)), as amended by section 3, including a report 

7 from a contracting officer representative, an inspector 

8 general, an auditor, an alleged victim or victim’s rep9 resentative, or any other credible source, the contracting 

10 or grant officer shall, before exercising any option to 

11 renew such grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, re12 quest that the agency’s Office of Inspector General imme13 diately initiate an investigation of the allegation or allega14 tions contained in the report. If the agency’s Office of In15 spector General is unable to conduct a timely investiga16 tion, the suspension and debarment office or another in17 vestigative unit of the agency shall conduct the investiga18 tion. 

19 (b) REPORT.—Upon completion of an investigation 

20 under subsection (a), the office or unit that conducted the 

21 investigation shall submit to the contracting or grant offi22 cer and, if such investigation was not conducted by the 

23 agency’s Office of Inspector General, to the agency’s Of24 fice of Inspector General, a report on the investigation, 

25 including conclusions about whether credible evidence exVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:21 Mar 27, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4259.IH H4259

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1 ists that the recipient of a grant, contract, or cooperative 

2 agreement; any subcontractor or subgrantee of the recipi3 ent; or any agent of the recipient or of such a subcon4 tractor or subgrantee, engaged in any of the activities de5 scribed in section 106(g) of the Trafficking Victims Pro6 tection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as amended by 

7 section 3. 

8 (c) REMEDIAL ACTIONS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a contracting or grant of10 ficial determines that a recipient of a grant, con11 tract, or cooperative agreement, or any subcon12 tractor or subgrantee of the recipient, has engaged 

13 in any of the activities described in such section 

14 106(g), the contracting or grant officer shall con15 sider taking one or more of the following remedial 

16 actions: 

17 (A) Requiring the recipient to remove an 

18 employee from the performance of work under 

19 the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 

20 (B) Requiring the recipient to terminate a 

21 subcontract or subgrant. 

22 (C) Suspending payments under the grant, 

23 contract, or cooperative agreement. 

24 (D) Withholding award fees, consistent 

25 with the award fee plan, for the performance 


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1 period in which the agency determined the con2 tractor or subcontractor engaged in any of the 

3 activities described in such section 106(g). 

4 (E) Declining to exercise available options 

5 under the contract. 

6 (F) Terminating the contract for default 

7 or cause, in accordance with the termination 

8 clause for the contract. 

9 (G) Referring the matter to the agency 

10 suspension and debarment official. 

11 (H) Referring the matter to the Depart12 ment of Justice for prosecution under any ap13 plicable law. 

14 (2) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub15 section shall be construed as limiting the scope of 

16 applicable remedies available to the Federal Govern17 ment. 

18 (3) MITIGATING FACTOR.—Where applicable, 

19 the contracting or grant official may consider wheth20 er the contractor or grantee had a plan in place 

21 under section 4, and was in compliance with that 

22 plan at the time of the violation, as a mitigating fac23 tor in determining which remedies, if any, should 

24 apply. 


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1 (d) INCLUSION OF REPORT CONCLUSIONS IN

2 FAPIIS.—The contracting or grant officer shall ensure 

3 that relevant findings contained in the report under sub4 section (b) are included in the Federal Awardee Perform5 ance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). These 

6 findings shall be considered relevant past performance 

7 data for the purpose of awarding future contracts, grants, 

8 or cooperative agreements. 

9 SEC. 6. NOTIFICATION TO INSPECTORS GENERAL AND CO10 OPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT. 

11 The head of an executive agency making or awarding 

12 a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement shall require 

13 that the recipient of the grant, contract, or cooperative 

14 agreement— 

15 (1) immediately inform the Inspector General of 

16 the executive agency of any information it receives 

17 from any source that alleges credible evidence that 

18 the recipient; any subcontractor or subgrantee of the 

19 recipient; or any agent of the recipient or of such a 

20 subcontractor or subgrantee, has engaged in conduct 

21 described in section 106(g) of the Trafficking in Vic22 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as 

23 amended by section 3 of this Act; and 


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1 (2) fully cooperate with any Federal agencies 

2 responsible for audits, investigations, or corrective 

3 actions relating to trafficking in persons. 

4 SEC. 7. EXPANSION OF FRAUD IN FOREIGN LABOR CON5 TRACTING TO INCLUDE WORK OUTSIDE THE 

6 UNITED STATES. 

7 Section 1351 of title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘Whoever knowingly’’ and in10 serting ‘‘(a) WORK INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 

11 Whoever knowingly’’; and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub13 section: 

14 ‘‘(b) WORK OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.—Who15 ever knowingly and with intent to defraud recruits, solic16 its, or hires a person outside the United States or causes 

17 another person to recruit, solicit, or hire a person outside 

18 the United States, or attempts to do so, for purposes of 

19 work performed on a United States Government contract 

20 performed outside the United States, or on a United 

21 States military installation or mission or other property 

22 or premises owned or controlled by the United States Gov23 ernment, by means of materially false or fraudulent pre24 tenses, representations, or promises regarding that emVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:21 Mar 27, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4259.IH H4259

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1 ployment, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for 

2 not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. IMPROVING DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ACCOUNT4 ABILITY FOR REPORTING TRAFFICKING IN 

5 PERSONS CLAIMS AND VIOLATIONS. 

6 Section 105(d)(7)(H) of the Trafficking Victims Pro7 tection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103(d)(7)(H)) is amend8 ed— 

9 (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

10 (2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv); 

11 (3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following 

12 new clause: 

13 ‘‘(iii) all known trafficking in persons 

14 cases reported to the Under Secretary of 

15 Defense for Personnel and Readiness;’’; 

16 (4) in clause (iv), as redesignated by paragraph 

17 (2), by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end after the semi18 colon; and 

19 (5) by adding at the end the following new 

20 clause: 

21 ‘‘(v) all trafficking in persons activi22 ties of contractors reported to the Under 

23 Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Tech24 nology, and Logistics;’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Excluding section 7, nothing in this Act shall be con3 strued to supersede, enlarge, or diminish the common law 

4 or statutory liabilities of any grantee, subgrantee, con5 tractor, subcontractor, or other party covered by section 

6 106(g) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

7 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as amended by section 3. 

Æ 


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