II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1385 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2019 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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 2019’’. 


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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 initiate a suspension or debarment proceeding 

7 against a person after receiving an offer for a con8 tract from such person if— 

9 (A) such offer contains a certification (as 

10 required under subsection (a)(1)) that such per11 son has a seriously delinquent tax debt; or 

12 (B) the head of the agency receives infor13 mation from the Secretary of the Treasury (as 

14 authorized under subsection (a)(2)) dem15 onstrating that such a certification submitted 

16 by such person is false. 

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

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

19 based upon a written finding of urgent and compel20 ling circumstances significantly affecting the inter21 ests of the United States. If the head of an executive 

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

23 of the agency shall submit to Congress, within 30 

24 days after the waiver is made, a report containing 


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1 the rationale for the waiver and relevant information 

2 supporting the waiver decision. 

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

4 the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Of5 fice of Management and Budget, shall make available to 

6 all executive agencies a standard form for the authoriza7 tion described in subsection (a). 

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

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

10 Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised to incor11 porate the requirements of this section. 

12 SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE AND EVALUATION OF GRANT APPLI13 CATIONS FROM DELINQUENT FEDERAL 

14 DEBTORS. 

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

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

17 simplified acquisition threshold shall require each person 

18 applying for a grant to submit with the grant application 

19 a form— 

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

21 seriously delinquent tax debt; and 

22 (2) authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to 

23 disclose to the head of the executive agency informa24 tion limited to describing whether the person has a 

25 seriously delinquent tax debt. 


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1 (b) IMPACT ON DETERMINATION OF FINANCIAL STA2 BILITY.—The head of any executive agency, in evaluating 

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

4 consider a certification that the grant applicant has a seri5 ously delinquent tax debt to be definitive proof that the 

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

7 grant, shall take appropriate measures under guidelines 

8 issued by the Office of Management and Budget for en9 hanced oversight of high-risk grantees. 

10 (c) DEBARMENT.— 

11 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in 

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

13 initiate a suspension or debarment proceeding 

14 against a person after receiving a grant application 

15 from such person if— 

16 (A) such application contains a certifi17 cation (as required under subsection (a)(1)) 

18 that such person has a seriously delinquent tax 

19 debt; or 

20 (B) the head of the agency receives infor21 mation from the Secretary of the Treasury (as 

22 authorized under subsection (a)(2)) dem23 onstrating that such a certification submitted 

24 by such person is false. 


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

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

3 based upon a written finding of urgent and compel4 ling circumstances significantly affecting the inter5 ests of the United States. If the head of an executive 

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

7 of the agency shall submit to Congress, within 30 

8 days after the waiver is made, a report containing 

9 the rationale for the waiver and relevant information 

10 supporting the waiver decision. 

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

12 the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Of13 fice of Management and Budget, shall make available to 

14 all executive agencies a standard form for the authoriza15 tion described in subsection (a). 

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

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

18 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 

19 revise such regulations as necessary to incorporate the re20 quirements of this section. 

21 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES. 

22 For purposes of this Act: 

23 (1) PERSON.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘person’’ in25 cludes— 


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1 (i) an individual; 

2 (ii) a partnership; and 

3 (iii) a corporation. 

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

5 not include an individual seeking assistance 

6 through a grant entitlement program. 

7 (C) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PARTNER8 SHIPS.—A partnership shall be treated as a 

9 person with a seriously delinquent tax debt if 

10 such partnership has a partner who— 

11 (i) holds an ownership interest of 50 

12 percent or more in that partnership; and 

13 (ii) has a seriously delinquent tax 

14 debt. 

15 (D) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CORPORA16 TIONS.—A corporation shall be treated as a 

17 person with a seriously delinquent tax debt if 

18 such corporation has an officer or a shareholder 

19 who— 

20 (i) holds 50 percent or more, or a con21 trolling interest that is less than 50 per22 cent, of the outstanding shares of cor23 porate stock in that corporation; and 

24 (ii) has a seriously delinquent tax 

25 debt. 


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

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

3 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

4 (3) SERIOUSLY DELINQUENT TAX DEBT.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘seriously de6 linquent tax debt’’ means a Federal tax liability 

7 that— 

8 (i) has been assessed by the Secretary 

9 of the Treasury under the Internal Rev10 enue Code of 1986; and 

11 (ii) may be collected by the Secretary 

12 by levy or by a proceeding in court. 

13 (B) EXCEPTIONS.—Such term does not in14 clude— 

15 (i) a debt that is being paid in a time16 ly manner pursuant to an agreement under 

17 section 6159 or section 7122 of such Code; 

18 (ii) a debt with respect to which a col19 lection due process hearing under section 

20 6330 of such Code, or relief under sub21 section (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 of 

22 such Code, is requested or pending; 

23 (iii) a debt with respect to which a 

24 continuous levy has been issued under sec25 tion 6331 of such Code (or, in the case of 


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1 an applicant for employment, a debt with 

2 respect to which the applicant agrees to be 

3 subject to such a levy); and 

4 (iv) a debt with respect to which such 

5 a levy is released under section 

6 6343(a)(1)(D) of such Code. 

7 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 This Act shall apply with respect to contracts and 

9 grants awarded on or after the date occurring 270 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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