II 

Calendar No. 734 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3810 

[Report No. 118–314] 

To prohibit conflict of interests among consulting firms that simultaneously 

contract with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and 

the United States Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2024 

Mr. HAWLEY (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. 

PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

DECEMBER 19 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, with an amendment and an amendment to the title 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To prohibit conflict of interests among consulting firms that 

simultaneously contract with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the United States Government, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Time to Choose Act 

3 of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) The Department of Defense and other agen7 cies in the United States Government regularly 

8 award contracts to firms such as Deloitte, McKinsey 

9 & Company, and others who are simultaneously pro10 viding consulting services to the Government of the 

11 People’s Republic of China and proxies or affiliates 

12 thereof. 

13 (2) The provision of such consulting services by 

14 firms like Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and oth15 ers to entities in the People’s Republic of China di16 rectly supports efforts by that nation’s government 

17 to generate economic and military power that it can 

18 then use to undermine the economic and national se19 curity of the American people, including through 

20 economic coercion and by threatening or using mili21 tary force against us. 

22 (3) It is a conflict of interest for firms like 

23 Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and others to simul24 taneously aid in the efforts of the Government of the 

25 People’s Republic of China to undermine the eco26 nomic and national security of the United States 


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1 while they are simultaneously contracting with the 

2 Department of Defense and other United States 

3 Government agencies responsible for defending the 

4 United States from foreign threats, above all from 

5 China. 

6 (4) Firms like Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, 

7 and others should no longer be allowed to engage in 

8 such a conflict of interest and should instead be re9 quired to choose between aiding the efforts of the 

10 Government of the People’s Republic of China to 

11 harm the United States or helping the United States 

12 Government to defend its citizens against such for13 eign coercion. 

14 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING WITH 

15 ENTITIES THAT ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY AID16 ING IN THE EFFORTS OF THE PEOPLE’S RE17 PUBLIC OF CHINA TO HARM THE UNITED 

18 STATES. 

19 In order to end conflict of interests in Federal con20 tracting among consulting firms that simultaneously con21 tract with the United States Government and covered for22 eign entities, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council 

23 shall, not later than 180 days after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act, amend the Federal Acquisition Regula25 tion— 


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1 (1) to require any entity that provides the serv2 ices described in the North American Industry Clas3 sification System’s Industry Group code 5416, prior 

4 to entering into a Federal contract, to certify that 

5 neither it nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates hold 

6 a contract with one or more covered foreign entities; 

7 and 

8 (2) to prohibit Federal contracts from being 

9 awarded to an entity that provides the services de10 scribed under the North American Industry Classi11 fication System’s Industry Group code 5416 if the 

12 entity or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are de13 termined, based on the self-certification required 

14 under paragraph (1) or other information, to be a 

15 contractor of, or otherwise providing services to, a 

16 covered foreign entity. 

17 SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR FALSE INFORMATION ON CON18 TRACTING WITH THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF 

19 CHINA. 

20 (a) TERMINATION, SUSPENSION, AND DEBAR21 MENT.—If the head of an executive agency determines 

22 that a consulting firm described in section 3 has knowingly 

23 submitted a false certification or information on or after 

24 the date on which the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

25 Council amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation pursuVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Dec 20, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3810.RS S3810

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1 ant to such section, the head of the executive agency shall 

2 terminate the contract with the consulting firm and con3 sider suspending or debarring the firm from eligibility for 

4 future Federal contracts in accordance with subpart 9.4 

5 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

6 (b) FALSE CLAIMS ACT.—A consulting firm de7 scribed in section 3 that, for the purposes of the False 

8 Claims Act, intentionally hides or misrepresents one or 

9 more contracts with covered foreign entities shall be sub10 ject to the penalties and corrective actions described in 

11 the False Claims Act, including liability for three times 

12 the amount of damages which the United States Govern13 ment sustains, including funds or other resources ex14 pended on or in support of the solicitation, selection, and 

15 performance of such contracts. 

16 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) COVERED FOREIGN ENTITY.—The term 

19 ‘‘covered foreign entity’’ means— 

20 (A) a person, business trust, business asso21 ciation, company, institution, government agen22 cy, university, partnership, limited liability com23 pany, corporation, or any other individual or or24 ganization that can legally enter into contracts, 


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1 own properties, or pay taxes on behalf of, the 

2 Government of the People’s Republic of China; 

3 (B) the Chinese Communist Party; 

4 (C) the People’s Republic of China’s 

5 United Front; 

6 (D) an entity owned or controlled by, or 

7 that performs activities on behalf of, a person 

8 or entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), or 

9 (C); and 

10 (E) an individual that is a member of the 

11 board of directors, an executive officer, or a 

12 senior official of an entity described in subpara13 graph (A), (B), (C), or (D). 

14 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

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

16 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

17 (3) FALSE CLAIMS ACT.—The term ‘‘False 

18 Claims Act’’ means sections 3729 through 3733 of 

19 title 31, United States Code. 

20 (4) NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICA21 TION SYSTEM’S INDUSTRY GROUP CODE 5416.—The 

22 term ‘‘North American Industry Classification Sys23 tem’s Industry Group code 5416’’ refers to the 

24 North American Industry Classification System cat25 egory that covers Management, Scientific, and TechVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Dec 20, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S3810.RS S3810

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1 nical Consulting Services as Industry Group code 

2 5416, including industry codes 54151, 541611, 

3 541612, 541613, 541614, 541618, 54162, 541620, 

4 54169, 541690. 

5 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

6 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Time to Choose Act of 

7 2024’’. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress makes the following findings: 

10 (1) The Department of Defense and other agen11 cies in the United States Government regularly 

12 award contracts to firms that are simultaneously pro13 viding consulting services to foreign governments and 

14 proxies or affiliates thereof. 

15 (2) The provision of such consulting services to 

16 covered foreign entities may support efforts by certain 

17 foreign governments to generate economic and mili18 tary power that they can then use to undermine the 

19 economic and national security of the American peo20 ple. 

21 (3) It is a conflict of interest for consulting firms 

22 to simultaneously aid in the efforts of certain foreign 

23 governments to undermine the economic and national 

24 security of the United States while they are simulta25 neously contracting with Federal agencies responsible 


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1 for protecting and defending the United States from 

2 foreign threats. 

3 (4) Firms should be prevented from engaging in 

4 such a conflict of interest and should instead be re5 quired to choose between aiding the efforts of certain 

6 foreign governments or helping the United States 

7 Government to support and defend its citizens. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING WITH EN9 TITIES THAT ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY AIDING 

10 IN THE EFFORTS OF COVERED FOREIGN EN11 TITIES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to end conflicts of interest 

13 in Federal contracting among consulting firms that simul14 taneously contract with the United States Government and 

15 covered foreign entities, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

16 Council shall, not later than 1 year after the date of the 

17 enactment of this Act, amend the Federal Acquisition Regu18 lation— 

19 (1) to require any entity that makes an offer or 

20 quotation to provide consulting services to an execu21 tive agency, including services described in the North 

22 American Industry Classification System’s Industry 

23 Group code 5416, prior to entering into a Federal 

24 contract, to certify that neither it nor any of its subVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Dec 20, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3810.RS S3810

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1 sidiaries or affiliates hold a consulting contract with 

2 one or more covered foreign entities; and 

3 (2) to prohibit Federal contracts for consulting 

4 services from being awarded to an entity that pro5 vides consulting services, including services described 

6 under the North American Industry Classification 

7 System’s Industry Group code 5416 if the entity or 

8 any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are determined, 

9 based on the self-certification required under para10 graph (1), to be a contractor of, or are otherwise pro11 viding consulting services to, a covered foreign entity. 

12 (b) WAIVER.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitations in 

14 paragraph (2), the head of an executive agency may 

15 waive the conflict of interest restrictions under this 

16 section on a case-by-case basis if— 

17 (A) the agency head, in consultation with 

18 the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Na19 tional Intelligence, determines the waiver to be 

20 in the national security interests of the United 

21 States; 

22 (B) the agency head determines that no 

23 other entity without a conflict of interest under 

24 this section can perform the work for the Federal 

25 contract; 


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1 (C) the head of the executive agency submits 

2 to the Director of the Office of Management and 

3 Budget a notification of such waiver at least 5 

4 days prior to issuing the waiver; 

5 (D) the head of the executive agency submits 

6 to the appropriate congressional committees a 

7 notification of such waiver within 30 days in 

8 unclassified form (accompanied by a classified 

9 annex if necessary) and offers a briefing to those 

10 committees on the information included in the 

11 notification; and 

12 (E) the contracting agency publishes in an 

13 easily accessible location on the agency’s public 

14 website a list of the names of the covered foreign 

15 entities to which the entity receiving a waiver 

16 provides consulting services, unless the head of 

17 the applicable executive agency, with the ap18 proval of the Director of the Office of Manage19 ment and Budget, and in consultation with the 

20 Secretary of Defense and Director of National 

21 Intelligence, determines that such public disclo22 sure would directly harm the national security 

23 interests of the United States. 

24 (2) LIMITATIONS.— 


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1 (A) DURATION.—A waiver granted under 

2 paragraph (1) shall last for a period of not more 

3 than 365 days. The head of the applicable execu4 tive agency, with the approval of the Director of 

5 the Office of Management and Budget, and in 

6 consultation with the Secretary of Defense and 

7 Director of National Intelligence, may extend a 

8 waiver granted under such paragraph one time, 

9 for a period up to 180 days after the date on 

10 which the waiver would otherwise expire, if such 

11 an extension is in the national security interests 

12 of the United States and the Director submits to 

13 the appropriate congressional committees a noti14 fication of such waiver and offers a briefing to 

15 those committees on the information included in 

16 the notification. 

17 (B) NUMBER.—Not more than one total 

18 waiver across all executive agencies may be 

19 granted under paragraph (1) to a single entity 

20 at a given time. 

21 (C) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—The 

22 notification required under subparagraphs (C) 

23 and (D) of paragraph (1) shall include the fol24 lowing information: 


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1 (i) Information on the contractor, in2 cluding— 

3 (I) the name, address, and cor4 porate structure of the contractor; 

5 (II) the name, address, and cor6 porate structure of any subsidiaries or 

7 subcontractors involved; 

8 (III) all foreign ownership of the 

9 contractor; 

10 (IV) all foreign real estate owned 

11 by the contractor; and 

12 (V) an employee designated as re13 sponsible for managing any conflict of 

14 interests that may arise as part of the 

15 contract. 

16 (ii) Information on the covered foreign 

17 entities involved to the extent known by the 

18 contractor, including— 

19 (I) the name and address of the 

20 covered foreign entity; 

21 (II) the name and address of any 

22 subsidiaries or subcontractors involved; 

23 (III) a complete history of any 

24 contracts between the covered foreign 

25 entity and the contractor; 


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1 (IV) all ownership of the covered 

2 foreign entity; and 

3 (V) any legal authorities pro4 viding a foreign government with ac5 cess or control over the covered foreign 

6 entity. 

7 (iii) Information on the nature of the 

8 work performed for the covered foreign enti9 ties, including— 

10 (I) the projected and actual dollar 

11 value of the contract; 

12 (II) the projected and actual du13 ration of the contract; 

14 (III) the projected and actual 

15 number of employees to work on the 

16 contract; 

17 (IV) the projected and actual 

18 number of employees who are United 

19 States citizens who work on the con20 tract; 

21 (V) the projected and actual num22 ber of employees who currently or for23 merly held security clearances with the 

24 United States Government who work 

25 on the contract; 


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1 (VI) the subject matter of the con2 tract; 

3 (VII) any materials provided to 

4 the covered foreign entity in order to 

5 secure the contract; 

6 (VIII) any tracking number used 

7 by the covered foreign entity to identify 

8 the contract; 

9 (IX) any tracking number or in10 formation used by the contractor to 

11 identify the contract; and 

12 (X) any military or intelligence 

13 applications that could benefit from the 

14 contract. 

15 (iv) Justification of the executive agen16 cy’s need for providing the waiver. 

17 (v) An acceptable management over18 sight plan to ensure that the work per19 formed for the covered foreign entities does 

20 not compromise the work being performed 

21 for the Federal Government or harm the na22 tional security of the United States, to be 

23 approved at not lower than the Deputy Sec24 retary level at the contracting agency. 


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1 (3) CONTRACTOR REPORTING.—The executive 

2 agency granting a waiver under this subsection shall 

3 require the contractor, in the event the contractor 

4 identifies any of the following during the performance 

5 of the contract, to report the following information to 

6 the executive agency: 

7 (A) Any human rights violations that are 

8 known to the contractor through information 

9 provided to the contractor in the course of the 

10 contract. 

11 (B) Any religious liberty violations that are 

12 known to the contractor through information 

13 provided to the contractor in the course of the 

14 contract. 

15 (C) Any risks to United States economic or 

16 national security identified by the contractor in 

17 the course of the contract. 

18 SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR FALSE INFORMATION. 

19 (a) TERMINATION, SUSPENSION, AND DEBARMENT.— 

20 If the head of an executive agency determines that a con21 sulting firm described in section 3(a)(1) has knowingly sub22 mitted a false certification or information on or after the 

23 date on which the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council 

24 amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation pursuant to 

25 such section, the head of the executive agency shall termiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Dec 20, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3810.RS S3810

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1 nate the contract with the consulting firm and consider sus2 pending or debarring the firm from eligibility for future 

3 Federal contracts in accordance with subpart 9.4 of the 

4 Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

5 (b) FALSE CLAIMS ACT.—A consulting firm described 

6 in section 3(a)(1) that, for the purposes of the False Claims 

7 Act, knowingly hides or misrepresents one or more contracts 

8 with covered foreign entities, or otherwise violates the False 

9 Claims Act, shall be subject to the penalties and corrective 

10 actions described in the False Claims Act, including liabil11 ity for three times the amount of damages which the United 

12 States Government sustains. 

13 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit17 tees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Security 

18 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Com19 mittee on Oversight and Accountability of the House 

20 of Representatives. 

21 (2) CONSULTING SERVICES.—The term ‘‘con22 sulting services’’ means advisory or assistance services 

23 similar to those defined in Federal Acquisition Regu24 lation 2.101, but for the purposes of this Act includes 

25 services provided to covered foreign entities, except 


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1 that the term does not include the provision of prod2 ucts or services related to— 

3 (A) compliance with legal, audit, account4 ing, tax, reporting, or other requirements of the 

5 laws and standards of countries; or 

6 (B) participation in a judicial, legal, or eq7 uitable dispute resolution proceeding. 

8 (3) COVERED FOREIGN ENTITY.—The term ‘‘cov9 ered foreign entity’’ means any of the following: 

10 (A) The Government of the People’s Repub11 lic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, the 

12 People’s Liberation Army, the Ministry of State 

13 Security, or other security service or intelligence 

14 agency of the People’s Republic of China. 

15 (B) The Government of the Russian Federa16 tion or any entity sanctioned by the Secretary of 

17 the Treasury under Executive Order 13662 titled 

18 ‘‘Blocking Property of Additional Persons Con19 tributing to the Situation in Ukraine’’ (79 Fed. 

20 Reg. 16169). 

21 (C) The government of any country if the 

22 Secretary of State determines that such govern23 ment has repeatedly provided support for acts of 

24 international terrorism pursuant to any of the 

25 following: 


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1 (i) Section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 

2 Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 

3 4318(c)(1)(A)). 

4 (ii) Section 620A of the Foreign Assist5 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371). 

6 (iii) Section 40 of the Arms Export 

7 Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780). 

8 (iv) Any other provision of law. 

9 (D) Any entity included on any of the fol10 lowing lists maintained by the Department of 

11 Commerce: 

12 (i) The Entity List set forth in Supple13 ment No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Ad14 ministration Regulations. 

15 (ii) The Denied Persons List as de16 scribed in section 764.3(a)(2) of the Export 

17 Administration Regulations. 

18 (iii) The Unverified List set forth in 

19 Supplement No. 6 to part 744 of the Export 

20 Administration Regulations. 

21 (iv) The Military End User List set 

22 forth in Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of 

23 the Export Administration Regulations. 

24 (E) Any entity identified by the Secretary 

25 of Defense pursuant to section 1237(b) of the 


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1 Strom Thurmond National Defense Authoriza2 tion Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 105- 

3 261; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note). 

4 (F) Any entity on the Non-SDN Chinese 

5 Military-Industrial Complex Companies List 

6 (NS-CMIC List) maintained by the Office of 

7 Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the 

8 Treasury under Executive Order 14032 (86 Fed. 

9 Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the threat 

10 from securities investments that finance certain 

11 companies of the People’s Republic of China), or 

12 any successor order. 

13 (4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

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

15 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

16 (5) FALSE CLAIMS ACT.—The term ‘‘False 

17 Claims Act’’ means sections 3729 through 3733 of 

18 title 31, United States Code. 

19 (6) NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION

20 SYSTEM’S INDUSTRY GROUP CODE 5416.—The term 

21 ‘‘North American Industry Classification System’s 

22 Industry Group code 5416’’ refers to the North Amer23 ican Industry Classification System category that 

24 covers Management, Scientific, and Technical Con25 sulting Services as Industry Group code 5416, includVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Dec 20, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3810.RS S3810

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1 ing industry codes 54151, 541611, 541612, 541613, 

2 541614, 541618, 54162, 541620, 54169, and 541690. 

3 SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING. 

4 No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated 

5 for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to prohibit 

conflicts of interest among consulting firms that simultaneously contract with covered foreign entities and the 

United States Government, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Calendar No. 734 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3810 

[Report No. 118–314] 

A BILL 

To prohibit conflict of interests among consulting 

D

purposes. the United States Government, and for other ernment of the People’s Republic of China and firms that simultaneously contract with the GovECEMBER 19 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Reported with an amendment and an amendment to the 

title 


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