IC 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 434 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2016 

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

AN ACT 

To strengthen the accountability of individuals involved in 

misconduct affecting the integrity of background investigations, to update guidelines for security clearances, 

to prevent conflicts of interest relating to contractors 

providing background investigation fieldwork services and 

investigative support services, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Security Clearance Ac5 countability, Reform, and Enhancement Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—SECURITY CLEARANCE ACCOUNTABILITY, REFORM, AND 

ENHANCEMENT 

Sec. 101. Definitions. 

Sec. 102. Accountability of individuals involved in misconduct affecting the integrity of agency background investigations. 

Sec. 103. Review and update of position designation guidance. 

TITLE II—PREVENTING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST WITH 

CONTRACTORS 

Sec. 201. Definitions. 

Sec. 202. Limitation on contracting to prevent organizational conflicts of interest. 

8 TITLE I—SECURITY CLEARANCE 

9 ACCOUNTABILITY, REFORM, 

10 AND ENHANCEMENT 

11 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this title— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

14 the term in Executive Order 13467 (73 Fed. Reg. 

15 38103), or any successor thereto; 

16 (2) the term ‘‘appropriate agency’’ means— 

17 (A) in the case of a prime contractor for 

18 a covered contract, the agency with which the 


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1 prime contractor entered the covered contract; 

2 or 

3 (B) in the case of a subcontractor for a 

4 covered contract, any agency on whose behalf 

5 the subcontractor is performing work under the 

6 covered contract; 

7 (3) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com8 mittees’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

10 and Governmental Affairs and the Select Com11 mittee on Intelligence of the Senate; and 

12 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Gov13 ernment Reform and the Permanent Select 

14 Committee on Intelligence of the House of Rep15 resentatives; 

16 (4) the term ‘‘background investigation’’ means 

17 any investigation required for the purpose of deter18 mining the— 

19 (A) eligibility of a covered individual for 

20 logical and physical access to federally con21 trolled facilities or information systems; 

22 (B) suitability or fitness of a covered indi23 vidual for Federal employment; 


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1 (C) eligibility of a covered individual for 

2 access to classified information or to hold a na3 tional security sensitive position; or 

4 (D) fitness of a covered individual to per5 form work for or on behalf of the United States 

6 Government as a contractor employee; 

7 (5) the term ‘‘covered contract’’ means a con8 tract to conduct background investigations— 

9 (A) between an agency and a prime con10 tractor; 

11 (B) between a prime contractor and a sub12 contractor, if the prime contractor has a con13 tract with an agency; or 

14 (C) between subcontractors, if one of the 

15 subcontractors has a contract with a prime con16 tractor that has a contract with an agency; 

17 (6) the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an in18 dividual who— 

19 (A) performs work for or on behalf of an 

20 agency; or 

21 (B) seeks to perform work for or on behalf 

22 of an agency; 

23 (7) the term ‘‘covered misconduct’’ means mis24 conduct affecting the integrity of a background in25 vestigation conducted by or for an agency with inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S434.RFH S434

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1 vestigative authority to conduct background inves2 tigations, including— 

3 (A) falsification of any information relat4 ing to a background investigation; or 

5 (B) other serious misconduct that com6 promises the integrity of a background inves7 tigation; 

8 (8) the term ‘‘prime contractor’’ means an indi9 vidual who enters into a contract with an agency; 

10 and 

11 (9) the term ‘‘subcontractor’’ means an indi12 vidual who has contracted with a prime contractor 

13 or with another subcontractor to perform a contract 

14 on behalf of an agency. 

15 SEC. 102. ACCOUNTABILITY OF INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN 

16 MISCONDUCT AFFECTING THE INTEGRITY OF 

17 AGENCY BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS. 

18 (a) MISCONDUCT BY FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.— 

19 (1) UNFIT FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT.—If an 

20 agency determines that an employee of the agency 

21 has engaged in covered misconduct, the employee 

22 shall be found unfit for Federal employment. 

23 (2) FITNESS DETERMINATIONS.—An agency 

24 shall make a determination under paragraph (1) in 

25 accordance with any statutory, regulatory, or interVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S434.RFH S434

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1 nal agency procedures applicable to investigating al2 leged misconduct by employees of the agency. 

3 (3) PROHIBITION ON REEMPLOYMENT TO CON4 DUCT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS.—If an agency 

5 determines under paragraph (1) that an individual is 

6 unfit for Federal employment, the individual shall 

7 not be appointed to or continue to occupy a position, 

8 as an employee of any agency, that requires its occu9 pant to perform background investigations. 

10 (b) MISCONDUCT BY EMPLOYEES UNDER CON11 TRACT.— 

12 (1) INELIGIBILITY FOR PERFORMANCE OF

13 WORK UNDER A COVERED CONTRACT.—If an appro14 priate agency, prime contractor, or subcontractor de15 termines that an individual performing work under 

16 a covered contract has engaged in covered mis17 conduct, the individual shall be ineligible to perform 

18 background investigations under a covered contract. 

19 (2) MANDATORY DISCLOSURE.—A covered con20 tract shall include a provision requiring a prime con21 tractor or subcontractor to disclose to each appro22 priate agency any allegation of covered misconduct 

23 by an employee of the prime contractor or subcon24 tractor not later than 24 hours after the prime conVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S434.RFH S434

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1 tractor or subcontractor discovers the alleged cov2 ered misconduct. 

3 (3) INVESTIGATION OF COVERED MIS4 CONDUCT.— 

5 (A) CONTRACTOR INVESTIGATION.—A cov6 ered contract shall include a provision requiring 

7 that, not later than 5 business days after the 

8 date on which a prime contractor or subcon9 tractor discloses an allegation under paragraph 

10 (2), the prime contractor or subcontractor shall 

11 refer the allegation of covered misconduct to 

12 the agency for investigation. 

13 (B) AGENCY INVESTIGATION.—Nothing in 

14 subparagraph (A) shall be construed to prohibit 

15 an appropriate agency from conducting its own 

16 investigation into an allegation of covered mis17 conduct. 

18 (4) PROHIBITION ON REEMPLOYMENT TO CON19 DUCT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS.—If an appro20 priate agency determines, based on an investigation 

21 conducted under paragraph (3), that an individual is 

22 ineligible to perform work under a covered contract 

23 under paragraph (1), the individual shall be prohib24 ited from performing background investigations 

25 under any covered contract. 


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1 (5) MODIFICATION OF EXISTING CONTRACTS.— 

2 Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, any covered contract that is in effect 

4 and was entered into before the date of enactment 

5 of this Act shall be modified to include the provi6 sions required under paragraphs (2) and (3). 

7 (c) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 

9 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

10 committees a report providing— 

11 (1) the number of individuals determined to 

12 be— 

13 (A) unfit for Federal employment under 

14 subsection (a); or 

15 (B) ineligible to perform work under a cov16 ered contract under subsection (b); and 

17 (2) details of the covered misconduct that re18 sulted in each determination described in paragraph 

19 (1). 

20 SEC. 103. REVIEW AND UPDATE OF POSITION DESIGNATION 

21 GUIDANCE. 

22 (a) GUIDELINES.— 

23 (1) INITIAL REVIEW AND UPDATE OF GUID24 ANCE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of 

25 enactment of this Act, the President shall review 


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1 and, if appropriate, update the guidance the Presi2 dent issues to assist agencies in determining— 

3 (A) position sensitivity designation; and 

4 (B) the appropriate background investiga5 tion to initiate for each position designation. 

6 (2) REVIEWS AND REVISIONS OF POSITION DES7 IGNATIONS.—Not less frequently than every 5 years, 

8 the President, acting through relevant agencies (as 

9 determined by the President) and in accordance with 

10 the guidance described in paragraph (1), shall review 

11 and, if necessary, revise the position designation of 

12 positions within agencies. 

13 (b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 30 days 

14 after completing a review under subsection (a)(2), the 

15 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

16 committees a report on— 

17 (1) any issues identified in the review; and 

18 (2) the number of position designations revised 

19 as a result of the review. 

20 (c) NO CHANGE IN AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 

21 section limits or expands the authority of any agency to 

22 designate a position as sensitive or as requiring its occu23 pant to have access to classified information. 


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1 TITLE II—PREVENTING CON2 FLICTS OF INTEREST WITH 

3 CONTRACTORS 

4 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this title— 

6 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means— 

7 (A) an Executive agency (as defined in sec8 tion 105 of title 5, United States Code); 

9 (B) a military department (as defined in 

10 section 102 of title 5, United States Code); 

11 (C) an element of the intelligence commu12 nity (as that term is defined in section 3 of the 

13 National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 

14 3003)); 

15 (D) the United States Postal Service; and 

16 (E) the Postal Regulatory Commission; 

17 (2) the term ‘‘background investigation 

18 fieldwork services’’ means the investigatory fieldwork 

19 conducted to determine the eligibility of an indi20 vidual for logical and physical access to federally 

21 controlled facilities or information systems, suit22 ability or fitness for Federal employment, eligibility 

23 for access to classified information or to hold a na24 tional security sensitive position, or fitness to perVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:49 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S434.RFH S434

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1 form work for or on behalf of the Federal Govern2 ment as a contractor or employee, including— 

3 (A) interviews of the individual, the em4 ployer of the individual, former employers of 

5 the individual, and friends, family, and other 

6 sources who might have relevant knowledge of 

7 the individual; and 

8 (B) reviews of— 

9 (i) educational and employment 

10 records; 

11 (ii) criminal and other legal records; 

12 and 

13 (iii) credit history; 

14 (3) the term ‘‘background investigation support 

15 services’’ means the clerical, administrative, and 

16 technical support services provided to various func17 tions critical to the background investigation proc18 ess, including— 

19 (A) initial processing and scheduling of in20 vestigative requests; 

21 (B) information technology and informa22 tion technology support; 

23 (C) file maintenance; 

24 (D) imaging or copying of investigation 

25 documents; and 


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1 (E) mail processing; and 

2 (4) the term ‘‘quality review process’’ means 

3 performing the final quality review of a background 

4 investigation to ensure investigative, administrative, 

5 and other required standards have been met before 

6 the completed background investigation is delivered 

7 to the adjudicating agency. 

8 SEC. 202. LIMITATION ON CONTRACTING TO PREVENT OR9 GANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. 

10 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, a contract may not be en12 tered into, and an extension of or option on a contract 

13 may not be exercised, with a contractor to conduct a qual14 ity review process relating to background investigation 

15 fieldwork services or background investigation support 

16 services if the contractor is performing the services to be 

17 reviewed. 

Passed the Senate November 17, 2016. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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