II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3905 

To prevent organizational conflicts of interest in Federal acquisition, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2022 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To prevent organizational conflicts of interest in Federal 

acquisition, 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 ‘‘Preventing Organiza5 tional Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Federal Government’s reliance on con9 tractors for mission support services can create the 

10 potential for conflicts of interest related to impaired 


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1 objectivity or undue influence due to contractor busi2 ness relationships with regulated or other entities. 

3 (2) Comptroller General bid protest decisions in 

4 recent years have shown failures in proper identifica5 tion and mitigation of organizational conflicts of in6 terest. These decisions focus on the issue of ‘‘im7 paired objectivity’’ in contract support, or a situa8 tion in which a contractor is unable to provide im9 partial recommendations and advice to the Govern10 ment due to competing interests of the contractor. 

11 (3) Prior efforts by the Administrator for Fed12 eral Procurement Policy and the Director of the Of13 fice of Government Ethics, undertaken pursuant to 

14 the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization 

15 Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110–417), 

16 have determined that changes are needed to the 

17 Federal Acquisition Regulation to prevent and miti18 gate conflicts of interest in Federal contracting. 

19 (4) Protecting against conflicts of interest in 

20 Federal acquisition is vital to the integrity of Gov21 ernment operations. 


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1 SEC. 3. PREVENTING ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF IN2 TEREST IN FEDERAL ACQUISITION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisi5 tion Regulatory Council shall— 

6 (1) identify contracting methods, types, and 

7 services that raise heightened concerns for potential 

8 organizational conflicts of interest beyond those cur9 rently addressed in the Federal Acquisition Regula10 tion; and 

11 (2) revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

12 to— 

13 (A) address organizational conflicts of in14 terest with sufficiently rigorous, comprehensive, 

15 and consistent governmentwide policy and guid16 ance to prevent or effectively mitigate such con17 flicts of interest in Federal acquisition; 

18 (B) provide and update definitions related 

19 to organizational conflicts of interest, to include 

20 contractor relationships with public, private, do21 mestic, and foreign entities that may cause con22 tract support to be subject to potential conflicts 

23 of interest, including undue influence; 

24 (C) provide executive agencies with solici25 tation provisions and contract clauses that re26 quire contractors to disclose information relVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Mar 24, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3905.IS S3905

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1 evant to potential organizational conflicts of in2 terest and limit future contracting with respect 

3 to potential conflicts of interest with the work 

4 to be performed under the awarded contract, 

5 for agency use as needed; 

6 (D) require executive agencies to tailor the 

7 solicitation and contract clauses described in 

8 subparagraph (C) as necessary to provide spe9 cifics on information required to be disclosed 

10 and limitations on future contracting based on 

11 the potential for conflict with the work to be 

12 performed under the awarded contract; and 

13 (E) require executive agencies to establish 

14 or update agency conflict of interest procedures 

15 to implement the Federal Acquisition Regula16 tion revisions made under this section, and peri17 odically assess and update these agency proce18 dures as needed to address agency-specific con19 flict of interest issues. 

20 (b) EXECUTIVE AGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, 

21 the term ‘‘executive agency’’ has the meaning given the 

22 term in section 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

Æ 


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