II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 543 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs to include in each contract into which the Secretary enters for 

necessary services authorities and mechanism for appropriate oversight, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2017 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include in each contract 

into which the Secretary enters for necessary services 

authorities and mechanism for appropriate oversight, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Performance Account5 ability and Contractor Transparency Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING OVERSIGHT OF DEPARTMENT OF VET2 ERANS AFFAIRS CONTRACTS FOR SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 513 of title 38, United 

4 States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Sec6 retary may, for’’ and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, for’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—(1) The Secretary shall en11 sure that each contract for a service into which the Sec12 retary enters under subsection (a) includes the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Measurable metrics to ascertain the per14 formance of the provider of the service, relating to 

15 cost, schedule, and fulfillment of contract require16 ments. 

17 ‘‘(B) A plan of action and milestones for the 

18 provision of the service, with estimates of the dates 

19 on which significant portions of the contract will be 

20 completed and a description of the resources the 

21 service provider will assign to provide the service. 

22 ‘‘(C) Safeguards to ensure that the service pro23 vided meets a minimum threshold of quality deter24 mined by the Secretary, including authority for the 

25 Secretary to levy a financial penalty upon the service 


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1 provider if the service provided fails to meet such 

2 threshold. 

3 ‘‘(D) Measurable metrics relating to the use of 

4 award or incentive fees. 

5 ‘‘(2) In each case of a contract for a service into 

6 which the Secretary enters into under subsection (a) that 

7 would result in the Department incurring an obligation of 

8 more than $100,000,000, the Secretary shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) ensure the contract includes— 

10 ‘‘(i) a requirement that the service provider 

11 documents through information technology sys12 tems of the Department the work of the service 

13 provider so that the Secretary can review and 

14 validate quality of the service provided using 

15 the metrics set forth in the contract under 

16 paragraph (1)(A); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) a requirement that, not later than 45 

18 days after the last day of each quarter for the 

19 duration of the contract, the service provider 

20 shall submit to the Secretary, the Committee on 

21 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate, and the Com22 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

23 Representatives a report on the service provided 

24 under the contract and an assessment as to how 

25 such service compares with respect to the 


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1 metrics set forth in the contract under para2 graph (1)(A); and 

3 ‘‘(B) use the appropriate project management 

4 accountability system of the Department to ensure 

5 that the contract provides an adequate return on the 

6 investment of the Secretary; 

7 ‘‘(C) whenever the Secretary provides notice to 

8 the service provider that the service provider is fail9 ing to meet contractual obligations, submit to the 

10 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

11 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

12 Representatives a report on such failure, along 

13 with— 

14 ‘‘(i) an explanation of the reasons for pro15 viding such notice; 

16 ‘‘(ii) a description of the effect of such fail17 ure, including with respect to cost, schedule, 

18 and requirements; 

19 ‘‘(iii) a description of the actions taken by 

20 the Secretary to mitigate such failure; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) a description of the actions taken by 

22 the contractor to address such failure; 

23 ‘‘(D) not later than 45 days after the last day 

24 of each quarter for the duration of the contract, sub25 mit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 


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1 Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

2 the House of Representatives a report that details 

3 the modifications made to the contract, if any, and 

4 a justification for such modifications; and 

5 ‘‘(E) publish on the Internet website of the De6 partment information about the contract and the 

7 modifications made to the contract, if any.’’. 

8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (b) of section 

9 513 of such title, as added by subsection (a), shall take 

10 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall 

11 apply with respect to contracts entered into by the Sec12 retary after such date. 

Æ 


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