I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 882 

To prohibit the awarding of a contract or grant in excess of the simplified 

acquisition threshold unless the prospective contractor or grantee certifies 

in writing to the agency awarding the contract or grant that the contractor or grantee has no seriously delinquent tax debts, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2013 

Mr. CHAFFETZ (for himself and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To prohibit the awarding of a contract or grant in excess 

of the simplified acquisition threshold unless the prospective contractor or grantee certifies in writing to the agency awarding the contract or grant that the contractor 

or grantee has no seriously delinquent tax debts, 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 ‘‘Contracting and Tax 

5 Accountability Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GOVERNMENTAL POLICY. 

2 It is the policy of the United States Government that 

3 no Government contracts or grants should be awarded to 

4 individuals or companies with seriously delinquent Federal 

5 tax debts. 

6 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE AND EVALUATION OF CONTRACT OF7 FERS FROM DELINQUENT FEDERAL DEBT8 ORS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of any executive agency 

10 that issues an invitation for bids or a request for proposals 

11 for a contract in an amount greater than the simplified 

12 acquisition threshold shall require each person that sub13 mits a bid or proposal to submit with the bid or proposal 

14 a form— 

15 (1) certifying that the person does not have a 

16 seriously delinquent tax debt; and 

17 (2) authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to 

18 disclose to the head of the agency information lim19 ited to describing whether the person has a seriously 

20 delinquent tax debt. 

21 (b) IMPACT ON RESPONSIBILITY DETERMINATION.— 

22 The head of any executive agency, in evaluating any offer 

23 received in response to a solicitation issued by the agency 

24 for bids or proposals for a contract, shall consider a certifi25 cation that the offeror has a seriously delinquent tax debt 

26 to be definitive proof that the offeror is not a responsible 


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1 source as defined in section 113 of title 41, United States 

2 Code. 

3 (c) DEBARMENT.— 

4 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in 

5 paragraph (2), the head of an executive agency shall 

6 propose a person for debarment after receiving an 

7 offer for a contract from such person if— 

8 (A) such offer contains a certification (as 

9 required under subsection (a)(1)) that such per10 son has a seriously delinquent tax debt; or 

11 (B) the head of the agency receives infor12 mation from the Secretary of the Treasury (as 

13 authorized under subsection (a)(2)) dem14 onstrating that such a certification submitted 

15 by such person is false. 

16 (2) WAIVER.—The head of an executive agency 

17 may waive paragraph (1) with respect to a person 

18 based upon a written finding of urgent and compel19 ling circumstances significantly affecting the inter20 ests of the United States. If the head of an executive 

21 agency waives paragraph (1) for a person, the head 

22 of the agency shall submit to Congress, within 30 

23 days after the waiver is made, a report containing 

24 the rationale for the waiver and relevant information 

25 supporting the waiver decision. 


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1 (d) RELEASE OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary of 

2 the Treasury shall make available to all executive agencies 

3 a standard form for the authorization described in sub4 section (a). 

5 (e) REVISION OF REGULATIONS.—Not later than 270 

6 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

7 Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to incor8 porate the requirements of this section. 

9 SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE AND EVALUATION OF GRANT APPLI10 CATIONS FROM DELINQUENT FEDERAL 

11 DEBTORS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of any executive agency 

13 that offers a grant in excess of an amount equal to the 

14 simplified acquisition threshold shall require each person 

15 applying for a grant to submit with the grant application 

16 a form— 

17 (1) certifying that the person does not have a 

18 seriously delinquent tax debt; and 

19 (2) authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to 

20 disclose to the head of the executive agency informa21 tion limited to describing whether the person has a 

22 seriously delinquent tax debt. 

23 (b) IMPACT ON DETERMINATION OF FINANCIAL STA24 BILITY.—The head of any executive agency, in evaluating 

25 any application for a grant offered by the agency, shall 


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1 consider a certification that the grant applicant has a seri2 ously delinquent tax debt to be definitive proof that the 

3 applicant is high-risk and, if the applicant is awarded the 

4 grant, shall take appropriate measures under guidelines 

5 issued by the Office of Management and Budget for en6 hanced oversight of high-risk grantees. 

7 (c) DEBARMENT.— 

8 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in 

9 paragraph (2), the head of an executive agency shall 

10 propose a person for debarment after receiving a 

11 grant application from such person if— 

12 (A) such application contains a certifi13 cation (as required under subsection (a)(1)) 

14 that such person has a seriously delinquent tax 

15 debt; or 

16 (B) the head of the agency receives infor17 mation from the Secretary of the Treasury (as 

18 authorized under subsection (a)(2)) dem19 onstrating that such a certification submitted 

20 by such person is false. 

21 (2) WAIVER.—The head of an executive agency 

22 may waive paragraph (1) with respect to a person 

23 based upon a written finding of urgent and compel24 ling circumstances significantly affecting the inter25 ests of the United States. If the head of an executive 


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1 agency waives paragraph (1) for a person, the head 

2 of the agency shall submit to Congress, within 30 

3 days after the waiver is made, a report containing 

4 the rationale for the waiver and relevant information 

5 supporting the waiver decision. 

6 (d) RELEASE OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary of 

7 the Treasury shall make available to all executive agencies 

8 a standard form for the authorization described in sub9 section (a). 

10 (e) REVISION OF REGULATIONS.—Not later than 270 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

12 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 

13 revise such regulations as necessary to incorporate the re14 quirements of this section. 

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES. 

16 For purposes of this Act: 

17 (1) PERSON.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘person’’ in19 cludes— 

20 (i) an individual; 

21 (ii) a partnership; and 

22 (iii) a corporation. 

23 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘person’’ does 

24 not include an individual seeking assistance 

25 through a grant entitlement program. 


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1 (C) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PARTNER2 SHIPS.—A partnership shall be treated as a 

3 person with a seriously delinquent tax debt if 

4 such partnership has a partner who— 

5 (i) holds an ownership interest of 50 

6 percent or more in that partnership; and 

7 (ii) has a seriously delinquent tax 

8 debt. 

9 (D) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CORPORA10 TIONS.—A corporation shall be treated as a 

11 person with a seriously delinquent tax debt if 

12 such corporation has an officer or a shareholder 

13 who— 

14 (i) holds 50 percent or more, or a con15 trolling interest that is less than 50 per16 cent, of the outstanding shares of cor17 porate stock in that corporation; and 

18 (ii) has a seriously delinquent tax 

19 debt. 

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

21 agency’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

22 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

23 (3) SERIOUSLY DELINQUENT TAX DEBT.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘seriously de25 linquent tax debt’’ means an outstanding debt 


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1 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for 

2 which a notice of lien has been filed in public 

3 records pursuant to section 6323 of such Code. 

4 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term does not in5 clude— 

6 (i) a debt that is being paid in a time7 ly manner pursuant to an agreement under 

8 section 6159 or section 7122 of such Code; 

9 and 

10 (ii) a debt with respect to which a col11 lection due process hearing under section 

12 6330 of such Code, or relief under sub13 section (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 of 

14 such Code, is requested or pending. 

15 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

16 This Act shall apply with respect to contracts and 

17 grants awarded on or after the date occurring 270 days 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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