I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2177 

To require accountability for personnel performing private security functions 

under Federal contracts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 29, 2009 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COOPER, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. MALONEY, Mrs. 

CAPPS, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. 

HALL of New York, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. FARR, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and 

Mr. PAYNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign 

Affairs and Oversight and Government Reform, 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 require accountability for personnel performing private 

security functions under Federal contracts, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Transparency and Accountability in Security Contracting 

6 Act of 2009’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Requirements related to personnel performing private security functions 

under Federal contracts. 

Sec. 3. Requirements for improving coordination between the United States 

Armed Forces and contractors performing private security 

functions. 

Sec. 4. International framework for security contracting. 

Sec. 5. Definitions. 

Sec. 6. Effective date. 

3 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO PERSONNEL PER4 FORMING PRIVATE SECURITY FUNCTIONS 

5 UNDER FEDERAL CONTRACTS. 

6 (a) ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PER7 SONNEL PERFORMING PRIVATE SECURITY FUNCTIONS

8 UNDER FEDERAL CONTRACTS OR SUBCONTRACTS DUR9 ING CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS.— 

10 (1) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE CERTAIN IN11 FORMATION ABOUT PERSONNEL PERFORMING PRI12 VATE SECURITY FUNCTIONS.—Each covered contract 

13 shall require the contractor to provide to the con14 tracting officer for the contract, not later than 5 

15 days after award of the contract, the following infor16 mation regarding private security functions to be 

17 performed under the contract: 

18 (A) The approximate number of persons to 

19 be used to perform the private security func20 tions. 


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1 (B) A description of the process used to 

2 hire such persons, including the method by 

3 which and the extent to which background 

4 checks regarding such persons are conducted. 

5 (C) A description of how such persons are 

6 trained to carry out tasks specified under the 

7 contract relating to such functions. 

8 (D) A description of each category of activ9 ity relating to such functions required by the 

10 contract. 

11 (2) UPDATES OF INFORMATION.—The informa12 tion provided under paragraph (1) shall be updated 

13 by the contractor during contract performance as 

14 necessary. 

15 (3) SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION.—The head 

16 of each agency awarding a covered contract shall 

17 take such actions as are necessary to protect any in18 formation provided under paragraph (1) that is a 

19 trade secret, or commercial or financial information, 

20 from disclosure to persons outside the Government. 

21 This paragraph shall not be construed to prevent ac22 cess to such information in the course of an inves23 tigation into alleged misconduct committed during 

24 the performance of a covered contract. 


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1 (4) ACCOUNTING.—Each covered contract shall 

2 include the following requirements: 

3 (A) Upon award of the contract, the con4 tractor shall provide cost estimates of salary, 

5 benefits, insurance, materials, logistics, travel, 

6 administrative costs, and other costs of carrying 

7 out private security functions under the con8 tract. 

9 (B) Before contract closeout (other than 

10 closeout of a firm, fixed price contract), the 

11 contractor shall provide a report on— 

12 (i) the actual costs of carrying out 

13 private security functions under the con14 tract, in the same categories as provided 

15 under subparagraph (A); and 

16 (ii) any equipment or supplies issued 

17 or provided by the Federal Government for 

18 work under the contract. 

19 (5) OVERSIGHT.—Before a covered contract is 

20 awarded, the head of the agency awarding the con21 tract shall ensure that sufficient resources are avail22 able to enable contracting officers of the agency to 

23 perform oversight of the performance of the con24 tract, including oversight inspections of facilities and 

25 operations. 


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1 (6) WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 

2 (A) WAIVER.—The head of the agency 

3 awarding a covered contract may waive a re4 quirement of this section with respect to a con5 tract in an emergency or exceptional situation, 

6 as determined by the head of the agency. Any 

7 such waiver shall be limited to the requirements 

8 that are impossible or impracticable to imple9 ment because of the emergency or exceptional 

10 situation. 

11 (B) REPORT.—In any case in which the 

12 head of an agency waives a requirement under 

13 this section with respect to a contract, the 

14 agency head shall prepare a report that— 

15 (i) describes the contract, the waiver, 

16 and the emergency or exceptional situation 

17 that justified the waiver; and 

18 (ii) contains a plan for bringing the 

19 contract into compliance with the waived 

20 requirements as soon as possible or an ex21 planation of why the waiver needs to be 

22 permanent. 

23 (C) SUBMISSION OF REPORT.—The report 

24 required by subparagraph (B) shall be subVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:36 May 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2177.IH H2177

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1 mitted, within 30 days after the date of the 

2 waiver, to— 

3 (i) the Committees on Appropriations, 

4 Armed Services, Oversight and Govern5 ment Reform, and Foreign Affairs of the 

6 House of Representatives; and 

7 (ii) the Committees on Appropria8 tions, Armed Services, Homeland Security 

9 and Governmental Affairs, and Foreign 

10 Relations of the Senate. 

11 (b) SECURITY CONTRACTING DATABASE.— 

12 (1) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH AND MAIN13 TAIN.—No later than 30 days after the date of the 

14 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in 

15 consultation with the Secretary of State, shall estab16 lish and maintain a comprehensive security con17 tracting database. 

18 (2) INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED.—The 

19 database required by paragraph (1) shall maintain 

20 up-to-date information on the following: 

21 (A) Information regarding each active cov22 ered contract, including— 

23 (i) a brief description of the contract; 

24 (ii) the total value of the contract; 


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1 (iii) an estimate of the number of per2 sonnel working under the contract; 

3 (iv) whether the contract was awarded 

4 competitively; and 

5 (v) a designation of whether the work 

6 under the contract is to be performed in 

7 support of a contingency operation or of an 

8 international military force. 

9 (B) For contracts awarded in support of or 

10 in relation to a contingency operation or an op11 eration of an international military force— 

12 (i) the total number and value of con13 tracts awarded since the beginning of the 

14 operation; and 

15 (ii) the total number of contractor 

16 personnel killed or wounded during the 

17 performance of such contracts since the be18 ginning of the operation. 

19 (C) A list of each individual who, while in 

20 performance of a contract awarded by the Fed21 eral Government, has been— 

22 (i) convicted for violation of United 

23 States law; or 

24 (ii) subjected to legal or disciplinary 

25 action for reliably attested involvement in 


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1 serious crime (including organized crime, 

2 violent crime, sexual offenses, violations of 

3 international humanitarian law, bribery, 

4 and corruption). 

5 (3) ACCESS.—Access to the database estab6 lished under paragraph (1) shall be provided to Con7 gress and to the Government Accountability Office. 

8 The Secretary of Defense shall endeavor to make in9 formation within the database publicly available to 

10 the extent such information is not classified or sen11 sitive to United States national security interests. 

12 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPROVING COORDINATION 

13 BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES ARMED 

14 FORCES AND CONTRACTORS PERFORMING 

15 PRIVATE SECURITY FUNCTIONS. 

16 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPROPRIATE USE OF

17 SECURITY CONTRACTORS.— 

18 (1) PROHIBITION.—No agency shall award a 

19 covered contract for performance of activities that 

20 require or involve— 

21 (A) direct participation by contractor per22 sonnel in hostilities with an enemy combatant 

23 or force; or 

24 (B) interrogation by contractor personnel 

25 of an individual who is a detainee or prisoner 


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1 in the custody or under the effective control of 

2 the United States Government. 

3 (2) REGULATION.—(A) Not later than 120 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the Ad6 ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter7 national Development, and the Administrator of 

8 General Services shall each prescribe regulations to 

9 ensure that no covered contract is awarded in viola10 tion of paragraph (1). 

11 (B) The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be 

12 revised to ensure compliance with paragraph (1). 

13 (3) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO LANGUAGE IN14 TERPRETATION.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall not be 

15 construed to include the performance of work related 

16 to language interpretation, so long as the work is 

17 strictly limited to language interpretation and occurs 

18 under the direct supervision of Federal Government 

19 personnel. 

20 (b) RULES FOR USE OF FORCE.— 

21 (1) REQUIREMENT TO ISSUE.—Not later than 

22 15 days after the initiation of a contingency oper23 ation, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

24 shall issue rules regarding the circumstances under 

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1 forming private security functions within the area 

2 covered by the contingency operation and the types 

3 of force authorized. Each covered contract shall re4 quire contract personnel to adhere to the rules for 

5 the use of force issued under this subsection. 

6 (2) NOTIFICATION.—The commander of the 

7 combatant command whose area of responsibility in8 cludes the contingency operation shall communicate 

9 the rules for the use of force to contract personnel 

10 in accordance with subsection (c). 

11 (3) EXCEPTIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—As ap12 propriate, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

13 may provide exceptions or special rules in the rules 

14 for the use of force for specific contractors. 

15 (c) HIRING, TRAINING, AND EQUIPMENT STANDARDS

16 RELATING TO PRIVATE SECURITY CONTRACTORS.— 

17 (1) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 30 days 

18 after the initiation of a contingency operation, the 

19 head of each agency awarding a covered contract 

20 shall prescribe in regulations minimum standards 

21 (appropriate for the agency) for contract personnel, 

22 including minimum hiring, screening, training, and 

23 certification standards. The standards may vary 

24 based on the duties of personnel, shall, at a min25 imum— 


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1 (A) require training of all contractor per2 sonnel, in advance of the performance of work 

3 under a covered contract, on— 

4 (i) applicable rules for the use of force 

5 and firearms; 

6 (ii) international humanitarian law 

7 and international human rights law; 

8 (iii) measures against corruption, 

9 bribery, and related crimes; 

10 (iv) relevant religious, gender, and 

11 cultural issues in the host nation; and 

12 (v) proper reporting and investigation 

13 of incidents involving the use of force or 

14 firearms by contractor personnel; 

15 (B) prohibit the employment by a con16 tractor performing a covered contract of an in17 dividual who— 

18 (i) is listed in a database under sec19 tion 2(b)(2)(C); 

20 (ii) has a reliably attested record of 

21 involvement in serious crime (including or22 ganized crime, violent crime, sexual of23 fenses, violations of international humani24 tarian law, bribery, and corruption); or 


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1 (iii) has been dishonorably discharged 

2 from armed or security forces; 

3 (C) include guidance on identifiability of 

4 contractor personnel and vehicles during per5 formance of security contracts; and 

6 (D) address security clearance require7 ments and other issues that the head of the 

8 agency determines may lead to security or per9 formance concerns. 

10 (2) GUIDANCE FOR EQUIPMENT.—The head of 

11 each agency awarding a covered contract shall issue 

12 guidance (appropriate for the agency) on equipment 

13 used for private security functions under covered 

14 contracts with the agency, including appropriate uni15 forms and levels of body armor and equipment 

16 armor, and a recommended list of re-armorers and 

17 weapons and armor manufacturers for complying 

18 with such guidelines. 

19 (3) CONSULTATION WITH SECRETARY OF DE20 FENSE.—The head of each agency shall consult with 

21 the Secretary of Defense in developing regulations 

22 and guidance under this subsection. 

23 (d) IMPROVED COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION

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1 TRACTORS PERFORMING PRIVATE SECURITY FUNC2 TIONS.— 

3 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF A THEATER SECURITY

4 CONTRACT COORDINATING OFFICER.—For each con5 tingency operation with respect to which one or more 

6 covered contracts are awarded for performance of 

7 work, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 

8 shall designate a Theater Security Contract Coordi9 nating Officer. 

10 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THEATER SECURITY

11 CONTRACT COORDINATING OFFICER.—The Theater 

12 Security Contract Coordinating Officer shall— 

13 (A) issue guidance providing for reliable 

14 lines of communications between contract per15 sonnel and United States Armed Forces; 

16 (B) communicate the rules for the use of 

17 force, established under subsection (b), to con18 tractors and contract personnel; 

19 (C) communicate other critical informa20 tion, including guidance on Department of De21 fense responsibilities for force protection of con22 tract personnel and guidance on equipment, to 

23 contractors and contract personnel; and 

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1 ment that may be relevant to contract per2 sonnel. 

3 (3) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTRACTORS RELAT4 ING TO THE THEATER SECURITY CONTRACT COORDI5 NATING OFFICER.—Contractors shall be required 

6 to— 

7 (A) register with the designated Theater 

8 Security Contract Coordinating Officer for the 

9 theater in which the covered contract is per10 formed, and to report to the Officer the number 

11 of personnel assigned to perform the covered 

12 contract; 

13 (B) immediately report any incidents in 

14 which contract personnel use force or are at15 tacked by hostile forces; 

16 (C) immediately report to the Theater Se17 curity Contract Coordinating Officer any cas18 ualties suffered by covered contract personnel; 

19 (D) communicate to the Theater Security 

20 Contract Coordinating Officer, in accordance 

21 with the guidance issued under paragraph 

22 (2)(A), tactical information, such as informa23 tion on the movement of contractor personnel 

24 into and out of a battle space; and 


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1 (E) communicate to the Theater Security 

2 Contract Coordinating Officer relevant informa3 tion, including intelligence, reports of hostile ac4 tivity, or information relevant to military plan5 ning. 

6 (e) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

8 State should work with contractors, industry associations, 

9 and nongovernmental organizations to develop a system 

10 of independent third-party accreditation of private busi11 nesses competing for contracts for private security func12 tions and, further, should ensure that covered contracts 

13 are awarded only to contractors who obtain such accredi14 tation. 

15 SEC. 4. INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SECURITY CON16 TRACTING. 

17 (a) INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK ON SECURITY

18 CONTRACTING.—The Secretary of State shall work 

19 through appropriate existing or new international fora to 

20 achieve agreement on an international framework regu21 lating the use of private contractors for security functions 

22 and facilitating cooperation among states, international 

23 organizations, contractors, and private clients of such con24 tractors on measures to ensure the transparency and legal 

25 accountability of security contractors. 


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1 (b) PRINCIPAL ISSUES.—The Secretary of State shall 

2 work to ensure that the international framework sought 

3 under subsection (a) shall address the following areas of 

4 concern: 

5 (1) Legal obligations of international organiza6 tions, contracting states, contractors and their per7 sonnel, and private clients of such contractors relat8 ing to the use of private contractors for security 

9 functions to ensure compliance with and enforce10 ment of international humanitarian law and inter11 national human rights law. 

12 (2) Standards for the use of force and firearms 

13 by contractor personnel. 

14 (3) Obligations of contracting states to ensure 

15 the appropriate training and equipping of private se16 curity contractors, including training on the fol17 lowing: 

18 (A) Rules for the use of force and fire19 arms. 

20 (B) International humanitarian law and 

21 international human rights law. 

22 (C) Measures against corruption, bribery, 

23 and related crimes. 

24 (D) Relevant religious, gender, and cul25 tural issues in the host nation. 


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1 (E) Identifiability of contractor personnel 

2 and vehicles during performance of security 

3 contracts. 

4 (F) Proper reporting and investigation of 

5 complaints relating to the conduct of contractor 

6 personnel. 

7 (4) Obligations of contracting states to ensure 

8 the appropriate vetting of private security contrac9 tors, including a mechanism by which contracting 

10 states shall ensure that contracting organizations 

11 performing security functions do not employ an indi12 vidual who has a reliably attested record of involve13 ment in serious crime (including organized crime, 

14 violent crime, sexual offenses, violations of inter15 national humanitarian law, bribery, and corruption) 

16 or who has been dishonorably discharged from 

17 armed or security forces. 

18 (5) Measures to ensure appropriate communica19 tion and coordination between private security con20 tractors, armed forces, and other lawful authorities 

21 operating in the same area. 

22 (6) Procedures for territorial states to register, 

23 authorize, and oversee private contractors per24 forming security functions on their territories. 


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1 (7) Obligations of contracting states, contrac2 tors, and other relevant parties relating to prosecu3 tion, reparations and other remedies for violations of 

4 international humanitarian law or human rights law. 

5 (8) Measures to facilitate information-sharing 

6 and other cooperation among contracting states, ter7 ritorial states, and home states of contractor per8 sonnel, especially in relation to contractor perform9 ance, contractor oversight, and the occurrence and 

10 remedy of violations of international humanitarian 

11 law or human rights law. 

12 (9) Obligations to ensure the rights of private 

13 security contractor personnel. 

14 (10) A categorization of functions not appro15 priate for performance by private security contrac16 tors, including functions deemed inherently govern17 mental, deemed to constitute direct participation in 

18 hostilities, or otherwise impermissible. 

19 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 365 days after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall 

21 submit to Congress a report on the activities carried out 

22 to implement this section. 

23 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) COVERED CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘covered 

2 contract’’ means— 

3 (A) a prime contract awarded by an agen4 cy, if the work to be performed under the con5 tract includes private security functions; 

6 (B) a subcontract at any tier under any 

7 prime contract awarded by an agency, if the 

8 work to be performed under the subcontract in9 cludes private security functions; or 

10 (C) a task order issued under a task or de11 livery order contract entered into by an agency, 

12 if the work to be performed under the task 

13 order includes private security functions. 

14 (2) PRIVATE SECURITY FUNCTIONS.—The term 

15 ‘‘private security functions’’, with respect to activi16 ties carried out under a covered contract in a the17 ater in which the United States is engaged in a con18 tingency operation, means— 

19 (A) any activities for which personnel are 

20 allowed to carry weapons in the performance of 

21 the contract; 

22 (B) the performance of— 

23 (i) military logistics and maintenance; 

24 (ii) interrogation of prisoners; 

25 (iii) convoy security; 


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1 (iv) guarding vital facilities and per2 sonnel; 

3 (v) tactical security work; 

4 (vi) local force training; or 

5 (vii) security advice or planning; or 

6 (C) any other activity in support of the 

7 contingency operation, as determined by the 

8 Theater Security Contract Coordinating Officer. 

9 (3) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

10 meaning given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in sec11 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

12 (4) CONTINGENCY OPERATION.—The term 

13 ‘‘contingency operation’’ has the meaning given the 

14 term section 101(a)(13) of title 10, United States 

15 Code. 

16 (5) CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘contractor’’ 

17 means an entity performing a covered contract. 

18 (6) CONTRACT PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘con19 tract personnel’’ means persons assigned by a con20 tractor (including subcontractors at any tier) to per21 form work under a covered contract. 

22 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 (a) APPLICABILITY.—The provisions of this Act shall 

24 apply to the following: 


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1 (1) All covered contracts and all covered con2 tract personnel in which the work under the contract 

3 is carried out in a theater in which the United 

4 States is currently conducting contingency oper5 ations. 

6 (2) In the event that the United States begins 

7 new contingency operations, all covered contracts 

8 and all covered contract personnel in which the work 

9 under the contract is carried out in a theater in 

10 which the United States is conducting such contin11 gency operations. 

12 (b) IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVENESS.—The provisions of 

13 this Act shall enter into effect immediately upon the enact14 ment of this Act. 

15 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—With respect to covered con16 tracts and covered contract personnel discussed in sub17 section (a)(1), the United States Government shall have 

18 90 days following the date of the enactment of this Act 

19 to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Act. 

Æ 


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