I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1185 

To amend titles 10 and 41, United States Code, to provide a contracting 

preference for contractors that retain American jobs and purchase goods 

and services in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. RYAN of Ohio introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 

Committee on Armed Services, 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 amend titles 10 and 41, United States Code, to provide 

a contracting preference for contractors that retain 

American jobs and purchase goods and services in the 

United States, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retain Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Hundreds of American corporations are 

2 shipping thousands of jobs to foreign countries. 

3 (2) United States companies either send Amer4 ican jobs overseas, or choose to employ cheap over5 seas labor, instead of American workers. 

6 (3) Shifting of jobs occurs in all industry sec7 tors including manufacturing, services, supply chain, 

8 and all others. 

9 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS. 

10 (a) CIVILIAN AGENCY CONTRACTS.— 

11 (1) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 47 of title 41, 

12 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new section: 

14 ‘‘§ 4713. Preference for keeping jobs in the United 

15 States 

16 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE.—The head of an executive agen17 cy shall give a preference for an offeror that certifies to 

18 retain jobs performed in the United States (regardless of 

19 the citizenship of the employee) and uses products sub20 stantially manufactured in the United States and services 

21 provided in the United States for the contract for which 

22 an offer is made. 

23 ‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY TO SUBCONTRACTS.—The pref24 erence described under subsection (a) applies to the award 

25 of a contract by an executive agency and the award of 


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1 any subcontract (at any tier) in the performance of such 

2 contract. 

3 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION.—To be eligible for the pref4 erence described under subsection (a), an offeror shall 

5 submit a certification that confirms the offeror and any 

6 subcontractor (if applicable)— 

7 ‘‘(1) has not relocated jobs from the United 

8 States to foreign countries in the preceding five 

9 years; 

10 ‘‘(2) has not established foreign facilities to per11 form the same function that otherwise could have 

12 been performed in the United States with the inten13 tion of manufacturing or providing the same service 

14 and importing the same product or service back to 

15 the United States; 

16 ‘‘(3) will not relocate jobs from the United 

17 States to foreign countries during the period of per18 formance of the contract; and 

19 ‘‘(4) will use products substantially manufac20 tured in the United States and services provided in 

21 the United States under the contract. 

22 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION TO CERTIFICATION.—Notwith23 standing the requirements of the certification described 

24 under subsection (c), the head of an executive agency may 

25 except an offeror from any of the requirements if the exVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Feb 25, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1185.IH H1185

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1 ception is fully described and justified and one or more 

2 of the following conditions apply: 

3 ‘‘(1) The products are not manufactured in the 

4 United States in sufficient and reasonably available 

5 commercial quantities and are not of satisfactory 

6 quality. 

7 ‘‘(2) There is an unreasonable cost associated 

8 with the use of products substantially manufactured 

9 in the United States or services provided in the 

10 United States. 

11 ‘‘(3) The use of products substantially manu12 factured in the United States or services provided in 

13 the United States would be inconsistent with the 

14 public interest. 

15 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF CERTIFICATION.—If the head of 

16 an executive agency determines that a contractor has sub17 mitted a false statement or violated any of the require18 ments of the certification described in subsection (c), the 

19 head of that executive agency shall terminate the contract 

20 for which the contractor received the preference described 

21 in subsection (a) and the contractor may not receive the 

22 preference for a period of not less than 5 years. 

23 ‘‘(f) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than November 

24 1 of each year, the head of an executive agency shall sub25 mit to Congress a report that includes the names of the 


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1 contractors that have submitted a false statement or vio2 lated any of the requirements of the certification described 

3 in subsection (c) for the previous fiscal year. 

4 ‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY TO PARENT COMPANIES AND

5 SUBSIDIARIES.—For purposes of this section, any prohibi6 tion on receiving a preference under subsection (e) applied 

7 with respect to a contractor shall apply to any subsidiary 

8 or parent company of the contractor.’’. 

9 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND10 MENT.—The table of sections at the beginning of 

11 chapter 47 of title 41, United States Code, is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following new 

13 item: 

‘‘4713. Preference for keeping jobs in the United States.’’. 

14 (b) DEFENSE CONTRACTS.— 

15 (1) AMENDMENT.—Chapter 137 of title 10, 

16 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

17 section 2316 the following new section: 

18 ‘‘§ 2317. Preference for keeping jobs in the United 

19 States 

20 ‘‘(a) PREFERENCE.—The head of an agency shall 

21 give a preference for an offeror that certifies to retain jobs 

22 performed in the United States (regardless of the citizen23 ship of the employee) in the United States and uses prod24 ucts substantially manufactured in the United States and 


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1 services provided in the United States for the contract for 

2 which an offer is made. 

3 ‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY TO SUBCONTRACTS.—The pref4 erence described under subsection (a) applies to the award 

5 of a contract by any agency named in section 2303 of this 

6 chapter and the award of any subcontract (at any tier) 

7 in the performance of such contract. 

8 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION.—To be eligible for the pref9 erence described under subsection (a), an offeror shall 

10 submit a certification that confirms the offeror and any 

11 subcontractor (if applicable)— 

12 ‘‘(1) has not relocated jobs from the United 

13 States to foreign countries in the preceding five 

14 years; 

15 ‘‘(2) has not established foreign facilities to per16 form the same function that otherwise could have 

17 been performed in the United States with the inten18 tion of manufacturing or providing the same service 

19 and importing the same product or service back to 

20 the United States; 

21 ‘‘(3) will not relocate jobs from the United 

22 States to foreign countries during the period of per23 formance of the contract; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) will use products substantially manufac2 tured in the United States and services provided in 

3 the United States under the contract. 

4 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION TO CERTIFICATION.—Notwith5 standing the requirements of the certification described 

6 under subsection (c), the head of an agency may except 

7 an offeror from any of the requirements if the exception 

8 is fully described and justified and one or more of the fol9 lowing conditions apply: 

10 ‘‘(1) The products are not manufactured in the 

11 United States in sufficient and reasonably available 

12 commercial quantities and are not of satisfactory 

13 quality. 

14 ‘‘(2) There is an unreasonable cost associated 

15 with the use of products substantially manufactured 

16 in the United States or services provided in the 

17 United States. 

18 ‘‘(3) The use of products substantially manu19 factured in the United States or services provided in 

20 the United States would be inconsistent with the 

21 public interest. 

22 ‘‘(e) VIOLATION OF CERTIFICATION.—If the head of 

23 an agency determines that a contractor has submitted a 

24 false statement or violated any of the requirements of the 

25 certification described in subsection (c), the head of that 


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1 agency shall terminate the contract for which the con2 tractor received the preference described in subsection (a) 

3 and the contractor may not receive the preference for a 

4 period of not less than 5 years. 

5 ‘‘(f) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than November 

6 1 of each year, the head of an agency shall submit to Con7 gress a report that includes the names of the contractors 

8 that have submitted a false statement or violated any of 

9 the requirements of the certification described in sub10 section (c) for the previous fiscal year. 

11 ‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY TO PARENT COMPANIES AND

12 SUBSIDIARIES.—For purposes of this section, any prohibi13 tion on receiving a preference under subsection (e) applied 

14 with respect to a contractor shall apply to any subsidiary 

15 or parent company of the contractor.’’. 

16 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND17 MENT.—The table of sections at the beginning of 

18 chapter 137 of title 10, United States Code, is 

19 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec20 tion 2316 the following new item: 

‘‘2317. Preference for keeping jobs in the United States.’’. 

21 (c) REVISION OF FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULA22 TION.—The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be re23 vised to implement the amendment made by this section. 

24 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—The amend25 ments made by this section shall take effect on the date 


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1 of the enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect 

2 to any contract awarded on or after the date occurring 

3 180 days after such effective date. 

Æ 


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