II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2145 

To prohibit the payment of bonuses to contractors for unsatisfactory 

performance. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit the payment of bonuses to contractors for 

unsatisfactory performance. 

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 ‘‘Bogus Bonus Ban Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LINKING OF AWARD AND INCENTIVE FEES TO CON7 TRACT OUTCOMES. 

8 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of10 fice of Management and Budget, in coordination with the 


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1 heads of Federal departments and agencies, shall issue 

2 guidance, with detailed implementation instructions (in3 cluding definitions), on the appropriate use of award and 

4 incentive fees in department or agency programs. 

5 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidance under subsection (a) 

6 shall— 

7 (1) ensure that all new contracts using award 

8 fees link such fees to outcomes (which shall be de9 fined in terms of program cost, schedule, and per10 formance); 

11 (2) establish standards for identifying the ap12 propriate level of officials authorized to approve the 

13 use of award and incentive fees in new contracts; 

14 (3) provide guidance on the circumstances in 

15 which contractor performance may be judged to be 

16 excellent or superior and the percentage of the avail17 able award fee which contractors should be paid for 

18 such performance; 

19 (4) establish standards for determining the per20 centage of the available award fee, if any, which con21 tractors should be paid for performance that is 

22 judged to be acceptable, average, expected, good, or 

23 satisfactory; 

24 (5) ensure that no award fee may be paid for 

25 contractor performance that is judged to be below 


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1 satisfactory performance or performance that does 

2 not meet the basic requirements of the contract; 

3 (6) provide specific direction on the cir4 cumstances, if any, in which it may be appropriate 

5 to roll over award fees that are not earned in one 

6 award fee period to a subsequent award fee period 

7 or periods; 

8 (7) ensure that the Department or agency— 

9 (A) collects relevant data on award and in10 centive fees paid to contractors and provides for 

11 the inclusion of such information, including a 

12 listing of each award and incentive fee so paid, 

13 on USAspending.gov, the searchable website of 

14 government spending established pursuant to 

15 section 2(b) of the Federal Funding Account16 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public 

17 Law 109–206; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note); and 

18 (B) has mechanisms in place to evaluate 

19 such data on a regular basis; and 

20 (8) include performance measures to evaluate 

21 the effectiveness of award and incentive fees as a 

22 tool for improving contractor performance and 

23 achieving desired program outcomes. 

24 (c) RETURN OF UNEARNED BONUSES.—Any funds 

25 intended to be awarded as incentive fees that are not paid 


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1 due to the inability of a contractor to meet the criteria 

2 established by this section shall be returned to the Treas3 ury of the United States. 

4 (d) INCLUSION OF AWARD FEE AS AWARD TYPE FIL5 TER ON USASPENDING.GOV.—The Secretary of the Treas6 ury shall include ‘‘award fee’’ as a filter on 

7 USAspending.gov. 

Æ 


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