II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 235 

To provide personal jurisdiction in causes of action against contractors of 

the United States performing contracts abroad with respect to members 

of the Armed Forces, civilian employees of the United States, and United 

States citizen employees of companies performing work for the United 

States in connection with contractor activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2011 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CASEY, 

and Mr. NELSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide personal jurisdiction in causes of action against 

contractors of the United States performing contracts 

abroad with respect to members of the Armed Forces, 

civilian employees of the United States, and United 

States citizen employees of companies performing work 

for the United States in connection with contractor activities, and for other purposes. 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lieutenant Colonel 

3 Dominic ‘Rocky’ Baragona Justice for American Heroes 

4 Harmed by Contractors Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEBARMENT OR SUSPENSION OF UNITED STATES 

2 GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS FOR EVASION 

3 OF PROCESS OR FAILURE TO APPEAR IN AC4 TIONS IN CONNECTION WITH GOVERNMENT 

5 CONTRACTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition 

8 Regulatory Council established under section 1302(a) of 

9 title 41, United States Code, shall amend the Federal Ac10 quisition Regulation to provide that a contractor with the 

11 United States may be debarred or suspended from con12 tracting with the United States if— 

13 (1) the contractor evades service of process in 

14 any civil action or criminal prosecution brought 

15 against the contractor by the United States or a cit16 izen or national of the United States in connection 

17 with an obligation under the terms of the contract; 

18 or 

19 (2) the contractor refuses or fails to appear be20 fore a Federal court in a matter brought against the 

21 contractor by the United States or a citizen or na22 tional of the United States in connection with an ob23 ligation under the terms of the contract. 

24 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments to the Fed25 eral Acquisition Regulation made under subsection (a) 


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1 shall apply to any action of a contractor that occurs on 

2 or after the effective date of the amendments. 

3 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec4 tion shall be construed to limit the ability of a contractor 

5 to assert any settled right under the Constitution of the 

6 United States. 

7 SEC. 3. PERSONAL JURISDICTION IN COVERED CIVIL AC8 TIONS BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES, 

9 CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES OF THE UNITED 

10 STATES, AND UNITED STATES CITIZEN EM11 PLOYEES OF COMPANIES PERFORMING 

12 WORK FOR THE UNITED STATES AGAINST EN13 TITIES UNDER UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 

14 CONTRACTS PERFORMED ABROAD. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition 

17 Regulatory Council established under section 1302(a) of 

18 title 41, United States Code, shall amend the Federal Ac19 quisition Regulation to require that any covered con20 tract— 

21 (1) requires that the contractor consent to per22 sonal jurisdiction over the contractor in accordance 

23 with paragraphs (3) through (5) with respect to any 

24 covered civil action, including a covered civil action 

25 against 1 or more employees of the contractor for 


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1 which the contractor may be liable under theories of 

2 vicarious liability; 

3 (2) specifies that consent to personal jurisdic4 tion under paragraph (1) shall not operate to de5 prive or terminate personal jurisdiction of the con6 tractor in any court that otherwise has personal ju7 risdiction under another provision of law; 

8 (3) requires the contractor to consent to per9 sonal jurisdiction in the United States District 

10 Court for the District of Columbia for a covered civil 

11 action in which— 

12 (A) the events giving rise to the cause of 

13 action occurred outside the United States; and 

14 (B) personal jurisdiction cannot be estab15 lished in another Federal court; and 

16 (4) if the covered contract was awarded to a 

17 contractor that does not maintain an office in the 

18 United States, requires that the contractor designate 

19 an agent located in the United States for service of 

20 process in any covered civil action; and 

21 (5) requires that— 

22 (A) except as provided in subparagraph 

23 (B), any covered civil action shall be analyzed 

24 in accordance with the laws of the United 

25 States; and 


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1 (B) the substantive law of the State (in2 cluding the District of Columbia) in which the 

3 covered civil action is brought shall be the law 

4 applicable to a covered civil action if— 

5 (i) the substantive law otherwise ap6 plicable to the covered civil action would be 

7 the law of the location where the events 

8 giving rise to the cause action occurred; 

9 and 

10 (ii) the location is designated as a 

11 hazardous duty zone by the Secretary of 

12 Defense. 

13 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments to the Fed14 eral Acquisition Regulation made under subsection (a) 

15 shall apply with respect to any covered contract that is 

16 entered into on or after the effective date of the amend17 ments under subsection (a). 

18 SEC. 4. PERSONAL JURISDICTION FOR ACTIONS BROUGHT 

19 BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AL20 LEGING WRONGDOING UNDER UNITED 

21 STATES GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS PER22 FORMED ABROAD. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition 

25 Regulatory Council established under section 1302(a) of 


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1 title 41, United States Code, shall amend the Federal Ac2 quisition Regulation to require that any covered con3 tract— 

4 (1) requires that the contractor consent to per5 sonal jurisdiction over the contractor by the Federal 

6 courts with respect to any action brought by the 

7 United States alleging wrongdoing associated with 

8 the performance of the covered contract; 

9 (2) specifies that consent to personal jurisdic10 tion under paragraph (1) shall not operate to de11 prive or terminate personal jurisdiction of the con12 tractor in any other court that has personal jurisdic13 tion under another provision of law; 

14 (3) requires the contractor to consent to per15 sonal jurisdiction in the United States District 

16 Court for the District of Columbia for any action de17 scribed in paragraph (1) in which— 

18 (A) the events giving rise to the cause of 

19 action occurred outside the United States; and 

20 (B) personal jurisdiction cannot be estab21 lished in another Federal court; and 

22 (4) if the covered contract was awarded to a 

23 contractor that does not maintain an office in the 

24 United States, requires that the contractor designate 


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1 an agent located in the United States for service of 

2 process in any action described in paragraph (1). 

3 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments to the Fed4 eral Acquisition Regulation made under subsection (a) 

5 shall apply with respect to any covered contract that is 

6 entered into on or after the effective date of the amend7 ments under subsection (a). 

8 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec9 tion shall be construed to limit any other jurisdictional 

10 basis for a civil action against or criminal prosecution of 

11 a contractor. 

12 SEC. 5. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

13 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit any 

14 cause of action or remedy under any other provision of 

15 law. 

16 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘contractor’’, 

19 with respect to a contract, includes the contractor 

20 under the contract, any subcontractor under the 

21 contract, any subordinate contractor under the con22 tract, any subsidiary, parent company, or successor 

23 entity of the contractor formed to act as a successor 

24 in interest of the contractor, and any employee 


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1 thereof performing work under or in connection with 

2 the contract. 

3 (2) COVERED CIVIL ACTION.—The term ‘‘cov4 ered civil action’’ means a civil action alleging a rape 

5 or sexual assault of or serious bodily injury to a 

6 member of the Armed Forces of the United States, 

7 civilian employee of the United States, or employee 

8 of a company performing work arising out of the 

9 performance of the covered contract for the United 

10 States who is a citizen or national of the United 

11 States. 

12 (3) COVERED CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘covered 

13 contract’’— 

14 (A) means a contract— 

15 (i) for work to be performed outside 

16 the United States that is awarded or en17 tered into by the United States (including 

18 any executive department, independent es19 tablishment, or agency thereof); and 

20 (ii) with a value of not less than 

21 $5,000,000; and 

22 (B) includes any subcontract or subordi23 nate contract under a contract described in sub24 paragraph (A). 


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1 (4) RAPE.—The term ‘‘rape’’ means conduct 

2 that would violate section 920(a) of title 10, United 

3 States Code (article 120(a) of the Uniform Code of 

4 Military Justice), if the conduct was committed by 

5 a person subject to chapter 47 of title 10, United 

6 States Code (the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 

7 (5) SERIOUS BODILY INJURY.—The term ‘‘seri8 ous bodily injury’’ has the meaning given that term 

9 in section 1365 of title 18, United States Code. 

10 (6) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as11 sault’’ means conduct that would violate section 

12 920(c), (h), or (m) of title 10, United States Code 

13 (article 120(c), (h), or (m) of the Uniform Code of 

14 Military Justice), if the conduct was committed by 

15 a person subject to chapter 47 of title 10, United 

16 States Code (the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 

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

18 States’’, in a geographic sense— 

19 (A) means the several States and the Dis20 trict of Columbia; and 

21 (B) does not include any military installa22 tion or facility located outside the area de23 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

Æ 


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