IB 

Union Calendar No. 384 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2008 

[Report No. 112–536] 

To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit inserting politics into 

the Federal acquisition process by prohibiting the submission of political 

contribution information as a condition of receiving a Federal contract. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2011 

Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. AMASH, Mr. 

GOWDY, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. ROSS of Florida, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. 

WALBERG, and Mr. KELLY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

JUNE 15, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. LABRADOR, Mr. HANNA, and Mr. 

ROKITA

JUNE 15, 2012 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2008 RH

A BILL 

To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit inserting 

politics into the Federal acquisition process by prohibiting the submission of political contribution information 

as a condition of receiving a Federal contract. 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2008 RH

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 ‘‘Keeping Politics Out 

5 of Federal Contracting Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN USES OF POLITICAL IN7 FORMATION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 41, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing new section: 

11 ‘‘§ 4712. Prohibition on certain uses of political infor12 mation 

13 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING SUBMISSION OF

14 POLITICAL INFORMATION.—The head of an executive 

15 agency may not require a contractor to submit political 

16 information related to the contractor or a subcontractor 

17 at any tier, or any partner, officer, director, or employee 

18 of the contractor or subcontractor— 

19 ‘‘(1) as part of a solicitation, request for bid, 

20 request for proposal, or any other form of commu21 nication designed to solicit offers in connection with 

22 the award of a contract for procurement of property 

23 or services; 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2008 RH

1 ‘‘(2) during the course of contract performance 

2 as part of the process associated with modifying a 

3 contract or exercising a contract option; or 

4 ‘‘(3) any time prior to contract completion and 

5 final contract closeout. 

6 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON USE OF POLITICAL INFORMA7 TION.—The head of an executive agency may not use po8 litical information, whether obtained from a contractor or 

9 prospective contractor or from an independent public or 

10 nonpublic source, as a factor or consideration in the source 

11 selection process used to award a competitive or non-com12 petitive contract at any value or in making any decision 

13 associated with the modification of a contract or the exer14 cise of a contract option. 

15 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON INCLUSION OF POLITICAL IN16 FORMATION IN CONTRACTING DATABASES.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 

18 paragraph (2), an executive agency may not include 

19 political information in the contracting past per20 formance database or any database designed to pro21 vide information to a contracting officer for pur22 poses of supporting the responsibility determination 

23 by such officer. 

24 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN

25 VIOLATIONS.— 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2008 RH

1 ‘‘(A) EXCEPTION.—Data required as of 

2 the date of the enactment of the Keeping Poli3 tics Out of Federal Contracting Act of 2011 to 

4 be included in the database maintained under 

5 section 2313 of this title are not subject to the 

6 prohibition under paragraph (1). 

7 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Notwith8 standing subparagraph (A), this paragraph 

9 shall not be construed as authorizing the inclu10 sion of political information pursuant to sub11 section (c)(6) of such section. 

12 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.—The prohibitions under this 

13 section apply to the procurement of commercial items, the 

14 procurement of commercial off-the-shelf items, and the 

15 non-commercial procurement of supplies, property, serv16 ices, and manufactured items, irrespective of contract ve17 hicle, including contracts, purchase orders, task or deliver 

18 orders under indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity con19 tracts, blanket purchase agreements, and basic ordering 

20 agreements. 

21 ‘‘(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec22 tion shall be construed as waiving, superseding, restrict23 ing, or limiting the application of the Federal Election 

24 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) or preVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:53 Jun 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2008.RH H2008

TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2008 RH

1 venting Federal regulatory or law enforcement agencies 

2 from collecting or receiving information authorized by law. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) ACQUISITION.—The term ‘acquisition’ has 

5 the meaning given the term in section 131 of this 

6 title. 

7 ‘‘(2) CONTRACTOR.—The term ‘contractor’ in8 cludes contractors, bidders, and offerors, and indi9 viduals and legal entities who would reasonably be 

10 expected to submit offers or bids for Federal Gov11 ernment contracts. 

12 ‘‘(3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘executive 

13 agency’ has the meaning given the term in section 

14 133 of this title. 

15 ‘‘(4) POLITICAL INFORMATION.—The term ‘po16 litical information’ means information relating to po17 litical spending, including any payment consisting of 

18 a contribution, expenditure, independent expendi19 ture, or disbursement for an electioneering commu20 nication that is made by the contractor, any of its 

21 partners, officers, directors or employees, or any of 

22 its affiliates or subsidiaries to a candidate or on be23 half of a candidate for election for Federal office, to 

24 a political committee, to a political party, to a third25 party entity with the intention or reasonable expecVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:53 Jun 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2008.RH H2008

TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2008 RH

1 tation that it would use the payment to make inde2 pendent expenditures or electioneering communica3 tions, or that is otherwise made with respect to any 

4 election for Federal office, party affiliation, and vot5 ing history. Each of the terms ‘contribution’, ‘ex6 penditure’, ‘independent expenditure’, ‘candidate’, 

7 ‘election’, ‘electioneering communication’, and ‘Fed8 eral office’ has the meaning given the term in the 

9 Federal Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et 

10 seq.).’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

12 at the beginning of chapter 47 of title 41, United States 

13 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

14 section 4711 the following new item: 

‘‘4712. Prohibition on Certain Uses of Political Information.’’ 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 384 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2008 

[Report No. 112–536] 

A BILL 

To amend title 41, United States Code, to prohibit 

ing a Federal contract. contribution information as a condition of receivprocess by prohibiting the submission of political inserting politics into the Federal acquisition 

JUNE 15, 2012 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS