I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5596 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve congressional oversight 

and public transparency of military construction contract awards, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023 

Mr. KIM of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. GARAMENDI, and 

Mr. PFLUGER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on 

Small Business, 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 amend title 10, United States Code, to improve congressional oversight and public transparency of military construction contract awards, 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 ‘‘Put Our Neighbors 

5 to Work Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SUPERVISION OF MILITARY CONSTRUCTION 

2 PROJECTS. 

3 Section 2851(c) of title 10, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or appro6 priated’’ after ‘‘funds authorized’’ each place such 

7 term appears; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 

10 deadline for bid submissions,’’ after ‘‘solicita11 tion date’’; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

13 ‘‘(including the address of such recipient)’’ after 

14 ‘‘contract recipient’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

16 subparagraphs: 

17 ‘‘(H) Any subcontracting plan required under 

18 paragraph (4) or (5) of section 8(d) of the Small 

19 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) for the project sub20 mitted by the contract recipient to the Secretary of 

21 Defense. 

22 ‘‘(I) A detailed written statement describing 

23 and justifying any exception applied or waiver grant24 ed under— 

25 ‘‘(i) chapter 83 of title 41; 

26 ‘‘(ii) section 4862 of this title; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) section 4863 of this title.’’; and 

2 (3) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 

3 following new sentence: ‘‘Such information shall con4 stitute a record for the purposes of chapters 21, 29, 

5 31, and 33 of title 44.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. INCREASING TRANSPARENCY IN CERTAIN MILI7 TARY CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES. 

8 Section 2851 of title 10, United States Code, is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

11 subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol13 lowing new subsections: 

14 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION AND NOTICE REQUIREMENTS

15 REGARDING SOLICITATION AND AWARD OF SUB16 CONTRACTS.—(1) The Secretary of Defense shall require 

17 a recipient of a contract for a project described in sub18 section (c)(1) to publish in the single Governmentwide 

19 point of entry described under section 1708 of title 41 any 

20 solicitation for a subcontract under such contract with an 

21 estimated value of $250,000 or more. 

22 ‘‘(2)(A) Solicitations described under paragraph (1) 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(i) clearly identify the prime contractor for 

25 such solicitation; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) be sortable by the congressional district, 

2 State, or foreign country in which the prime con3 tract or subcontract will be performed. 

4 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph, the term ‘State’ means each 

5 of the several States, the District of Columbia, and each 

6 territory, commonwealth, or possession of the United 

7 States. 

8 ‘‘(3) Each quarter, the Administrator of the General 

9 Services Administration shall make publicly available on 

10 the single Governmentwide point of entry a report con11 taining a list of solicitations described under paragraph 

12 (1) that is sortable by the congressional district in which 

13 the prime contract or a subcontract under such a solicita14 tion will be performed. 

15 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with 

16 the Secretary of Defense, shall update the public website 

17 of Governmentwide spending data (commonly referred to 

18 as ‘USASpending.gov’) each fiscal year quarter to identify 

19 projects described in subsection (c)(1) carried out using 

20 amounts appropriated during the five fiscal years pre21 ceding the date of such update. Each update shall in22 clude— 

23 ‘‘(A) the prime contractor for each such project; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) any subcontracts awarded by such prime 

2 contractor for each such project. 

3 ‘‘(e) EXCLUSION FOR CLASSIFIED PROJECTS.—The 

4 requirements of subsection (d) shall not apply to a classi5 fied project described in subsection (c)(1).’’. 

6 SEC. 4. SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES. 

7 Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644) 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub9 section: 

10 ‘‘(z) SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT FOR LOCAL BUSI11 NESSES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) CREDIT FOR MEETING SUBCONTRACTING

13 GOALS.—If a prime contractor awards a subcontract 

14 (at any tier) to a small business concern that has its 

15 principal office located in the same State as, or with16 in a 60-mile radius of, the location of the work to 

17 be performed pursuant to the contract of the prime 

18 contractor, the value of such subcontract shall be 

19 doubled for purposes of determining compliance with 

20 the goals for procurement contracts under sub21 section (g)(1)(A) during each fiscal year of perform22 ance of such subcontract. 

23 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Along with the report required 

24 under subsection (h)(1), the head of each Federal 

25 agency shall submit to the Administrator, and make 


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1 publicly available on the scorecard described in sub2 section (y), an analysis of the number and dollar 

3 amount of each subcontract awarded pursuant to 

4 paragraph (1) for each fiscal year of performance of 

5 such subcontract.’’. 

6 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO THE AWARD OF COV7 ERED MILITARY CONSTRUCTION CON8 TRACTS. 

9 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR COVERED MILITARY CON10 STRUCTION CONTRACTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 

12 169 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 

13 inserting after section 2851a the following new sec14 tion: 

15 ‘‘§ 2851b. Requirements relating to the award of cov16 ered military construction contracts 

17 ‘‘(a) LOCAL HIRE REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent practicable, 

19 in awarding a covered military construction contract, 

20 the Secretary concerned shall give preference to an 

21 entity or individual that certifies that at least 51 

22 percent of the total number of employees hired to 

23 perform the contract (including any employees hired 

24 by a subcontractor at any tier) will reside in the 

25 same covered State as, or within a 60-mile radius of, 


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1 the location of the work to be performed pursuant 

2 to the contract. 

3 ‘‘(2) JUSTIFICATION REQUIRED.—The Sec4 retary concerned shall prepare a written justifica5 tion, and make such justification available on the 

6 Internet site required under section 2851 of this 

7 title, for the award of any covered military construc8 tion contract to an entity or individual that is not 

9 described under paragraph (1). 

10 ‘‘(b) LICENSING.—A contractor and any subcontrac11 tors performing a covered military construction contract 

12 shall be licensed to perform the work under such contract 

13 in the covered State in which the work will be performed. 

14 ‘‘(c) MONTHLY REPORT.—Not later than 10 days 

15 after the end of each month, the Secretary of Defense 

16 shall submit to the congressional defense committees a re17 port identifying for that month the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) Each covered military construction con19 tract and each subcontract of a covered military con20 struction contract awarded during that month. 

21 ‘‘(2) The location of the work to be performed 

22 pursuant to each contract and subcontract identified 

23 pursuant to paragraph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) The prime contractor and any subcon2 tractor performing each contract and subcontract 

3 identified pursuant to paragraph (1). 

4 ‘‘(4) The estimated value of each contract and 

5 subcontract identified pursuant to paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(d) EXCLUSION OF CLASSIFIED PROJECTS.—This 

7 section does not apply to a classified covered military con8 struction project. 

9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) COVERED MILITARY CONSTRUCTION CON11 TRACT.—The term ‘covered military construction 

12 contract’ means a contract for work on a military 

13 construction project, military family housing project, 

14 or Facilities Sustainment, Restoration, and Mod15 ernization project carried out in a covered State. 

16 ‘‘(2) COVERED STATE.—The term ‘covered 

17 State’ means any of the several States, the District 

18 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

19 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin 

20 Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar21 iana Islands. 

22 ‘‘(3) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.—The term ‘Mem23 ber of Congress’ has the meaning given in section 

24 2106 of title 5.’’. 


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1 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Section 2851b of title 10, 

2 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall 

3 apply with respect to a covered military construction con4 tract, as defined in such section, entered into on or after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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