II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2234 

To prevent human trafficking in government contracting. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2012 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. RUBIO, 

Ms. COLLINS, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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 per22 sons; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the procurement of a commercial 

24 sex act during the period of time that the 


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1 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement 

2 is in effect; 

3 ‘‘(iii) the use of forced labor in the 

4 performance of the grant, contract, or co5 operative agreement, or 

6 ‘‘(iv) acts that directly support or ad7 vance trafficking in persons, including the 

8 following acts: 

9 ‘‘(I) Destroying, concealing, re10 moving, or confiscating an employee’s 

11 immigration documents without the 

12 employee’s consent. 

13 ‘‘(II) Failing to repatriate an em14 ployee upon the end of employment, 

15 unless— 

16 ‘‘(aa) exempted from the 

17 duty to repatriate by the Federal 

18 department or agency providing 

19 or entering into the grant, con20 tract, or cooperative agreement; 

21 or 

22 ‘‘(bb) the employee is a vic23 tim of human trafficking seeking 

24 victim services or legal redress in 

25 the country of employment or a 


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1 witness in a human trafficking 

2 enforcement action. 

3 ‘‘(III) Soliciting a person for the 

4 purpose of employment, or offering 

5 employment, by means of materially 

6 false or fraudulent pretenses, rep7 resentations, or promises regarding 

8 that employment. 

9 ‘‘(IV) Charging recruited employ10 ees exorbitant placement fees, includ11 ing fees equal to or greater than the 

12 employee’s monthly salary, or recruit13 ment fees that violate the laws of the 

14 country from which an employee is re15 cruited. 

16 ‘‘(V) Providing inhumane living 

17 conditions.’’. 

18 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE PLAN AND CERTIFICATION REQUIRE19 MENT. 

20 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The head of an executive agen21 cy may not provide or enter into a grant, contract, or coop22 erative agreement valued at $1,000,000 or more if per23 formance will predominantly be conducted overseas, unless 

24 a duly designated representative of the recipient of such 

25 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement certifies to the 


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1 contracting or grant officer prior to receiving an award 

2 and on an annual basis thereafter, after having conducted 

3 due diligence, that— 

4 (1) the recipient has implemented a plan to pre5 vent the activities described in section 106(g) of the 

6 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

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

8 compliance with that plan; 

9 (2) the recipient has implemented procedures to 

10 prevent any activities described in such section 

11 106(g) and to monitor, detect, and terminate any 

12 subcontractor, subgrantee, or employee of the recipi13 ent found to be engaged in any activities described 

14 in such section; and 

15 (3) to the best of the representative’s knowl16 edge, neither the recipient, nor any subcontractor or 

17 subgrantee of the recipient or any agent of the re18 cipient or of such a subcontractor or subgrantee, is 

19 engaged in any of the activities described in such 

20 section. 

21 (b) LIMITATION.—Any plan or procedures imple22 mented pursuant to subsection (a) shall be appropriate to 

23 the size and complexity of the grant, contract, or coopera24 tive agreement and to the nature and scope of its activiVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:15 Mar 27, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234

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1 ties, including the number of non-United States citizens 

2 expected to be employed. 

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

4 of the plan to the contracting or grant officer upon re5 quest, and as appropriate, shall post the useful and rel6 evant contents of the plan or related materials on its 

7 website and at the workplace. 

8 (d) PERFORMANCE PREDOMINATELY OVERSEAS.— 

9 For purposes of subsection (a), a grant, contract, or coop10 erative agreement shall be considered to be performed pre11 dominantly overseas if the estimated value of the services 

12 required to be performed under the grant, contract, or co13 operative agreement outside the United States exceeds 

14 $500,000. 

15 SEC. 5. MONITORING AND INVESTIGATION OF TRAF16 FICKING IN PERSONS. 

17 (a) INVESTIGATION.—If the contracting or grant offi18 cer of an executive agency for a grant, contract, or cooper19 ative agreement receives credible evidence that a recipient 

20 of the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement; any sub21 grantee or subcontractor of the recipient; or any agent of 

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

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

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

25 7104(g)), as amended by section 3, including a report 


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1 from a contracting officer representative, an inspector 

2 general, an auditor, an alleged victim or victim’s rep3 resentative, or any other credible source, the contracting 

4 or grant officer shall, before exercising any option to 

5 renew such grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, re6 quest that the agency’s Office of Inspector General imme7 diately initiate an investigation of the allegation or allega8 tions contained in the report. If the agency’s Office of In9 spector General is unable to conduct a timely investiga10 tion, the suspension and debarment office or another in11 vestigative unit of the agency shall conduct the investiga12 tion. 

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

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

15 investigation shall submit to the contracting or grant offi16 cer and, if such investigation was not conducted by the 

17 agency’s Office of Inspector General, to the agency’s Of18 fice of Inspector General, a report on the investigation, 

19 including conclusions about whether credible evidence ex20 ists that the recipient of a grant, contract, or cooperative 

21 agreement; any subcontractor or subgrantee of the recipi22 ent; or any agent of the recipient or of such a subcon23 tractor or subgrantee, engaged in any of the activities de24 scribed in section 106(g) of the Trafficking Victims ProVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:15 Mar 27, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2234.IS S2234

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1 tection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as amended by 

2 section 3. 

3 (c) REMEDIAL ACTIONS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a contracting or grant of5 ficial determines that a recipient of a grant, con6 tract, or cooperative agreement, or any subcon7 tractor or subgrantee of the recipient, has engaged 

8 in any of the activities described in such section 

9 106(g), the contracting or grant officer shall con10 sider taking one or more of the following remedial 

11 actions: 

12 (A) Requiring the recipient to remove an 

13 employee from the performance of work under 

14 the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement. 

15 (B) Requiring the recipient to terminate a 

16 subcontract or subgrant. 

17 (C) Suspending payments under the grant, 

18 contract, or cooperative agreement. 

19 (D) Withholding award fees, consistent 

20 with the award fee plan, for the performance 

21 period in which the agency determined the con22 tractor or subcontractor engaged in any of the 

23 activities described in such section 106(g). 

24 (E) Declining to exercise available options 

25 under the contract. 


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1 (F) Terminating the contract for default 

2 or cause, in accordance with the termination 

3 clause for the contract. 

4 (G) Referring the matter to the agency 

5 suspension and debarment official. 

6 (H) Referring the matter to the Depart7 ment of Justice for prosecution under any ap8 plicable law. 

9 (2) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub10 section shall be construed as limiting the scope of 

11 applicable remedies available to the Federal Govern12 ment. 

13 (3) MITIGATING FACTOR.—Where applicable, 

14 the contracting or grant official may consider wheth15 er the contractor or grantee had a plan in place 

16 under section 4, and was in compliance with that 

17 plan at the time of the violation, as a mitigating fac18 tor in determining which remedies, if any, should 

19 apply. 

20 (d) INCLUSION OF REPORT CONCLUSIONS IN

21 FAPIIS.—The contracting or grant officer shall ensure 

22 that relevant findings contained in the report under sub23 section (b) are included in the Federal Awardee Perform24 ance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). These 

25 findings shall be considered relevant past performance 


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

2 or cooperative agreements. 

3 SEC. 6. NOTIFICATION TO INSPECTORS GENERAL AND CO4 OPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT. 

5 The head of an executive agency making or awarding 

6 a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement shall require 

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

8 agreement— 

9 (1) immediately inform the Inspector General of 

10 the executive agency of any information it receives 

11 from any source that alleges credible evidence that 

12 the recipient; any subcontractor or subgrantee of the 

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

14 subcontractor or subgrantee, has engaged in conduct 

15 described in section 106(g) of the Trafficking in Vic16 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(g)), as 

17 amended by section 3 of this Act; and 

18 (2) fully cooperate with any Federal agencies 

19 responsible for audits, investigations, or corrective 

20 actions relating to trafficking in persons. 

21 SEC. 7. EXPANSION OF FRAUD IN FOREIGN LABOR CON22 TRACTING TO INCLUDE WORK OUTSIDE THE 

23 UNITED STATES. 

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

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘Whoever knowingly’’ and in2 serting ‘‘(a) WORK INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.— 

3 Whoever knowingly’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub5 section: 

6 ‘‘(b) WORK OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.—Who7 ever knowingly and with intent to defraud recruits, solic8 its, or hires a person outside the United States or causes 

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

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

11 work performed on a United States Government contract 

12 performed outside the United States, or on a United 

13 States military installation or mission or other property 

14 or premises owned or controlled by the United States Gov15 ernment, by means of materially false or fraudulent pre16 tenses, representations, or promises regarding that em17 ployment, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for 

18 not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 

19 SEC. 8. IMPROVING DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ACCOUNT20 ABILITY FOR REPORTING TRAFFICKING IN 

21 PERSONS CLAIMS AND VIOLATIONS. 

22 Section 105(d)(7)(H) of the Trafficking Victims Pro23 tection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103(d)(7)(H)) is amend24 ed— 

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


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

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

3 new clause: 

4 ‘‘(iii) all known trafficking in persons 

5 cases reported to the Under Secretary of 

6 Defense for Personnel and Readiness;’’; 

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

8 (2), by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end after the semi9 colon; and 

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

11 clause: 

12 ‘‘(v) all trafficking in persons activi13 ties of contractors reported to the Under 

14 Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Tech15 nology, and Logistics;’’. 

16 SEC. 9. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

17 Excluding section 7, nothing in this Act shall be con18 strued to supersede, enlarge, or diminish the common law 

19 or statutory liabilities of any grantee, subgrantee, con20 tractor, subcontractor, or other party covered by section 

21 106(g) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

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

Æ 


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