I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 963 

To enhance transparency and accountability within the intelligence community 

for activities performed under Federal contracts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 10, 2009 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GRIJALVA, 

Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. MILLER of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent 

Select), and in addition to the Committees on Armed Services and the 

Judiciary, 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 enhance transparency and accountability within the intelligence community for activities performed under Federal 

contracts, 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 ‘‘Transparency and Ac5 countability in Intelligence Contracting Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF PRIVATE CONTRAC2 TORS FOR ACTIVITIES INVOLVING PERSONS 

3 UNDER THE CUSTODY OR CONTROL OF THE 

4 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi6 sion of law, a covered contract may not be awarded for 

7 the performance of any activity described in subsection 

8 (b). 

9 (b) ACTIVITIES.—Subsection (a) shall apply to any 

10 activity relating to the capture, custody, control, or other 

11 pertinent interaction with an individual who is a detainee 

12 or prisoner in the custody or under the effective control 

13 of the United States Government, including, with regard 

14 to such an individual— 

15 (1) arrest; 

16 (2) interrogation; 

17 (3) detention; or 

18 (4) transportation or transfer. 

19 (c) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO LANGUAGE INTER20 PRETATION.—Subsection (b) shall not be construed to in21 clude the performance of work related to language inter22 pretation, so long as the work is strictly limited to lan23 guage interpretation and occurs under the direct super24 vision of United States Government personnel. 


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1 (d) DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE.—The President 

2 shall have six months following the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act to ensure compliance with subsection (a). 

4 SEC. 3. ANNUAL SURVEY OF INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY 

5 CONTRACTORS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the National Security 

7 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.) is amended by insert8 ing after section 506A the following new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 506B. ANNUAL CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL LEVEL AS10 SESSMENTS FOR THE INTELLIGENCE COM11 MUNITY. 

12 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE.—The Director of 

13 National Intelligence shall, in consultation with the head 

14 of the element of the intelligence community concerned, 

15 prepare an annual assessment for such element of the in16 telligence community that assesses such element’s use of 

17 private contractors and private contractor personnel. 

18 ‘‘(b) SCHEDULE.—Each assessment required by sub19 section (a) shall be submitted to the congressional intel20 ligence committees each year along with the budget sub21 mitted by the President under section 1105 of title 31, 

22 United States Code. 

23 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS.—Each assessment required by sub24 section (a) submitted during a fiscal year shall contain, 


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1 at a minimum, the following information for the element 

2 of the intelligence community concerned: 

3 ‘‘(1) The total number and costs of contractors 

4 funded by the element during the previous fiscal 

5 year. 

6 ‘‘(2) The best estimate of the total number of 

7 personnel working on the contracts funded by the 

8 element during the previous fiscal year. 

9 ‘‘(3) The best estimate of the number and costs 

10 of contractors to be funded by the element for the 

11 upcoming fiscal year. 

12 ‘‘(4) The proposed numerical and percentage 

13 increase or decrease of such costs of contracts as 

14 compared to the best estimate of the costs of con15 tracts of the current fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘(5) The proposed numerical and percentage 

17 increase or decrease of such costs of contracts as 

18 compared to the cost of contracts, and the number 

19 of contracts, during the prior 5 fiscal years. 

20 ‘‘(6) A written description of the types of activi21 ties being performed by contractors. 

22 ‘‘(7) A list of all contractors that have been the 

23 subject of an investigation completed by the Inspec24 tor General of any element of the intelligence com25 munity during the preceding fiscal year, or are or 


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1 have been the subject of an investigation by such an 

2 Inspector General during the current fiscal year, or 

3 are currently or have been during the previous fiscal 

4 year the subject of a United States or foreign crimi5 nal investigation in connection with activities per6 formed under a contract awarded by any element of 

7 the intelligence community, as well as any charges 

8 filed in connection with the investigation and the 

9 findings or disposition of the investigation. 

10 ‘‘(8) A statement by the Director of National 

11 Intelligence that, based on current and projected 

12 funding, the element concerned will have sufficient— 

13 ‘‘(A) training resources to support the an14 ticipated scope of contractor activity for the up15 coming fiscal year; and 

16 ‘‘(B) resources and infrastructure to sup17 port the administration, management, and over18 sight of the anticipated scope of contractor ac19 tivity for the upcoming fiscal year.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

21 in the first section of that Act is amended by inserting 

22 after the item relating to section 506A the following new 

23 item: 

‘‘Sec. 506B. Annual contractor personnel level assessment for the intelligence 

community.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN INTEL2 LIGENCE CONTRACTING. 

3 (a) INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES TO BE PER4 FORMED.—Each covered contract shall require the con5 tractor to provide to the contracting officer for the con6 tract, not later than 5 days after award of the contract, 

7 the following information regarding activities performed 

8 under the contract: 

9 (1) The best estimate of the number of persons 

10 to be used to perform such activities. 

11 (2) A description of how such persons are 

12 trained to carry out tasks specified under the con13 tract relating to such activities. 

14 (3) A description of the process used to hire 

15 such persons, including the method by which and the 

16 extent to which background checks regarding such 

17 persons are conducted. 

18 (4) A description of each category of activity re19 lating to such functions required by the contract. 

20 (5) The best estimate of the number of foreign 

21 nationals to be employed under the contract. 

22 (b) UPDATES.—The information provided under sub23 section (a) shall be updated during contract performance 

24 as necessary. 

25 (c) INFORMATION ON COSTS.—Each covered contract 

26 shall include the following requirements: 


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1 (1) Upon award of the contract, the contractor 

2 shall provide to the contracting officer cost estimates 

3 of salary, benefits, insurance, materials, logistics, ad4 ministrative costs, and other costs of carrying out 

5 activities under the contract. 

6 (2) Before contract closeout (other than close7 out of a firm, fixed price contract), the contractor 

8 shall provide to the contracting officer a report on 

9 the actual costs of carrying out activities under the 

10 contract, in the same categories as provided under 

11 paragraph (1). 

12 (d) INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED TO CONGRESS

13 UPON REQUEST.—The head of each element of the intel14 ligence community shall make available to Congress any 

15 information provided under this section upon request by 

16 a Member or committee of Congress. 

17 SEC. 5. REPORT ON THE USE OF PRIVATE CONTRACTORS 

18 FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES. 

19 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.—Not later than 

20 120 days following the date of the enactment of this Act, 

21 the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to Con22 gress a report describing the personal services activities 

23 performed by contractors across the intelligence commu24 nity, the impact of such contractors on the intelligence 

25 community workforce, plans for conversion of contractor 


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1 employment into Government employment, and the ac2 countability mechanisms that govern the performance of 

3 such contractors. 

4 (b) CONTENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The report submitted under 

6 subsection (a) shall include— 

7 (A) a description of any relevant regula8 tions or guidance issued by the Director of Na9 tional Intelligence or the head of an element of 

10 the intelligence community relating to minimum 

11 standards required regarding the hiring, train12 ing, security clearance, and assignment of con13 tract personnel and how those standards may 

14 differ from those for Government employees 

15 performing substantially similar functions; 

16 (B) an identification of contracts where the 

17 contractor is providing a substantially similar 

18 functions to a Government employee; 

19 (C) an assessment of costs incurred or sav20 ings achieved by awarding contracts for the per21 formance of such functions referred to in sub22 paragraph (B) instead of using full-time em23 ployees of the elements of the intelligence com24 munity to perform such functions; 


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1 (D) an assessment of the appropriateness 

2 of using contractors to perform the activities 

3 described in paragraph (2); 

4 (E) an estimate of the number of con5 tracts, and the number of personnel working 

6 under such contracts, related to the perform7 ance of activities described in paragraph (2); 

8 (F) a comparison of the compensation of 

9 contract employees and Government employees 

10 performing substantially similar functions; 

11 (G) an analysis of the attrition of Govern12 ment personnel associated with the reliance on 

13 contractor positions that provide substantially 

14 similar functions; 

15 (H) an analysis of accountability mecha16 nisms available to each element of the intel17 ligence community, including regulations and 

18 provisions included within services contracts; 

19 (I) an analysis of procedures in use in the 

20 intelligence community for conducting oversight 

21 of contractors to ensure identification and pros22 ecution of criminal violations, financial waste, 

23 fraud, or other abuses committed by contractors 

24 or contract personnel; and 


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1 (J) an identification of best practices of 

2 accountability mechanisms within services con3 tracts. 

4 (2) ACTIVITIES.—Activities described in this 

5 paragraph are the following: 

6 (A) Intelligence collection. 

7 (B) Intelligence analysis. 

8 (C) Covert actions. 

9 (D) Conduct of electronic or physical sur10 veillance or monitoring of United States citizens 

11 in the United States. 

12 (3) FORM.—The report required under para13 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

14 but may include a classified annex. 

15 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (a) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘intel18 ligence community’’ has the meaning given the term in 

19 section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 

20 U.S.C. 401a(4)). 

21 (b) ELEMENT OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMU22 NITY.—The term ‘‘element of the intelligence community’’ 

23 means an element of the intelligence community listed in 

24 or designated under section 3(4) of the National Security 

25 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4)). 


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1 (c) COVERED CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘covered con2 tract’’ means— 

3 (1) a prime contract— 

4 (A) with any agency or office that is part 

5 of the intelligence community; or 

6 (B) with any Federal department or agen7 cy if the work performed under the contract will 

8 be performed under the direction or supervision 

9 of any agency or office that is part of the intel10 ligence community; 

11 (2) a subcontract at any tier under any prime 

12 contract described in paragraph (1); or 

13 (3) a task order issued under a task or delivery 

14 order contract entered into by an office or agency 

15 referred to in paragraph (1)(A); 

16 if the contract, subcontract, or task order is valued at 

17 more than $1,000,000 and includes personal services ac18 tivities to be performed either within or outside the United 

19 States. 

Æ 


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