I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2989 
To prohibit conflicts of interest among consulting firms that simultaneously 
contract with China or other covered foreign entities and the United 
States Government, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 24, 2025 
Mr. BRESNAHAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To prohibit conflicts of interest among consulting firms that 
simultaneously contract with China or other covered for-
eign entities and the United States Government, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Time to Choose Act 
of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) The Department of Defense and other agen-
cies in the United States Government regularly 
award contracts to firms that are simultaneously 
providing consulting services to foreign governments 
and proxies or affiliates thereof. 
(2) The provision of such consulting services to 
covered foreign entities may support efforts by cer-
tain foreign governments to generate economic and 
military power that they can then use to undermine 
the economic and national security of the American 
people. 
(3) It is a conflict of interest for consulting 
firms to simultaneously aid in the efforts of certain 
foreign governments to undermine the economic and 
national security of the United States while they are 
simultaneously contracting with Federal agencies re-
sponsible for protecting and defending the United 
States from foreign threats. 
(4) Firms should be prevented from engaging in 
such a conflict of interest and should instead be re-
quired to choose between aiding the efforts of cer-
tain foreign governments or helping the United 
States Government to support and defend its citi-
zens. 
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SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING WITH 
ENTITIES THAT ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY AID-
ING IN THE EFFORTS OF COVERED FOREIGN 
ENTITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In order to end conflicts of inter-
est in Federal contracting among consulting firms that si-
multaneously contract with the United States Government 
and covered foreign entities, the Federal Acquisition Reg-
ulatory Council shall, not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, amend the Federal Acquisi-
tion Regulation— 
(1) to require any entity that makes an offer or 
quotation to provide consulting services to an execu-
tive agency, including services described in the 
North American Industry Classification System’s In-
dustry Group code 5416, prior to entering into a 
Federal contract, to certify that neither it nor any 
of its subsidiaries or affiliates hold a consulting con-
tract with one or more covered foreign entities; and 
(2) to prohibit Federal contracts for consulting 
services from being awarded to an entity that pro-
vides consulting services, including services described 
under the North American Industry Classification 
System’s Industry Group code 5416 if the entity or 
any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are determined, 
based on the self-certification required under para-
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graph (1), to be a contractor of, or are otherwise 
providing consulting services to, a covered foreign 
entity. 
(b) WAIVER.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitations in 
paragraph (2), the head of an executive agency may 
waive the conflict of interest restrictions under this 
section on a case-by-case basis if— 
(A) the agency head, in consultation with 
the Secretary of Defense and the Director of 
National Intelligence, determines the waiver to 
be in the national security interests of the 
United States; 
(B) the agency head determines that no 
other entity without a conflict of interest under 
this section can perform the work for the Fed-
eral contract; 
(C) the head of the executive agency sub-
mits to the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget a notification of such waiver 
at least 5 days prior to issuing the waiver; 
(D) the head of the executive agency sub-
mits to the appropriate congressional commit-
tees a notification of such waiver within 30 
days in unclassified form (accompanied by a 
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classified annex if necessary) and offers a brief-
ing to those committees on the information in-
cluded in the notification; and 
(E) the contracting agency publishes in an 
easily accessible location on the agency’s public 
website a list of the names of the covered for-
eign entities to which the entity receiving a 
waiver provides consulting services, unless the 
head of the applicable executive agency, with 
the approval of the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget, and in consultation 
with the Secretary of Defense and Director of 
National Intelligence, determines that such pub-
lic disclosure would directly harm the national 
security interests of the United States. 
(2) LIMITATIONS.— 
(A) DURATION.—A waiver granted under 
paragraph (1) shall last for a period of not 
more than 365 days. The head of the applicable 
executive agency, with the approval of the Di-
rector of the Office of Management and Budg-
et, and in consultation with the Secretary of 
Defense and Director of National Intelligence, 
may extend a waiver granted under such para-
graph one time, for a period up to 180 days 
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after the date on which the waiver would other-
wise expire, if such an extension is in the na-
tional security interests of the United States 
and the Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget submits to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a notification of such waiver 
and offers a briefing to those committees on the 
information included in the notification. 
(B) NUMBER.—Not more than one total 
waiver across all executive agencies may be 
granted under paragraph (1) to a single entity 
at a given time. 
(C) NOTIFICATION
REQUIREMENTS.—The 
notification required under subparagraphs (C) 
and (D) of paragraph (1) shall include the fol-
lowing information: 
(i) Information on the contractor, in-
cluding— 
(I) the name, address, and cor-
porate structure of the contractor; 
(II) the name, address, and cor-
porate structure of any subsidiaries or 
subcontractors involved; 
(III) all foreign ownership of the 
contractor; 
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(IV) all foreign real estate owned 
by the contractor; and 
(V) an employee designated as 
responsible for managing any conflict 
of interests that may arise as part of 
the contract. 
(ii) Information on the covered foreign 
entities involved to the extent known by 
the contractor, including— 
(I) the name and address of the 
covered foreign entity; 
(II) the name and address of any 
subsidiaries 
or 
subcontractors 
in-
volved; 
(III) a complete history of any 
contracts between the covered foreign 
entity and the contractor; 
(IV) all ownership of the covered 
foreign entity; and 
(V) any legal authorities pro-
viding a foreign government with ac-
cess or control over the covered for-
eign entity. 
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(iii) Information on the nature of the 
work performed for the covered foreign en-
tities, including— 
(I) the projected and actual dol-
lar value of the contract; 
(II) the projected and actual du-
ration of the contract; 
(III) the projected and actual 
number of employees to work on the 
contract; 
(IV) the projected and actual 
number of employees who are United 
States citizens who work on the con-
tract; 
(V) the projected and actual 
number of employees who currently or 
formerly held security clearances with 
the United States Government who 
work on the contract; 
(VI) the subject matter of the 
contract; 
(VII) any materials provided to 
the covered foreign entity in order to 
secure the contract; 
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(VIII) any tracking number used 
by the covered foreign entity to iden-
tify the contract; 
(IX) any tracking number or in-
formation used by the contractor to 
identify the contract; and 
(X) any military or intelligence 
applications that could benefit from 
the contract. 
(iv) Justification of the executive 
agency’s need for providing the waiver. 
(v) An acceptable management over-
sight plan to ensure that the work per-
formed for the covered foreign entities does 
not compromise the work being performed 
for the Federal Government or harm the 
national security of the United States, to 
be approved at not lower than the Deputy 
Secretary level at the contracting agency. 
(3) CONTRACTOR
REPORTING.—The executive 
agency granting a waiver under this subsection shall 
require the contractor, in the event the contractor 
identifies any of the following during the perform-
ance of the contract, to report the following informa-
tion to the executive agency: 
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(A) Any human rights violations that are 
known to the contractor through information 
provided to the contractor in the course of the 
contract. 
(B) Any religious liberty violations that are 
known to the contractor through information 
provided to the contractor in the course of the 
contract. 
(C) Any risks to United States economic or 
national security identified by the contractor in 
the course of the contract. 
SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR FALSE INFORMATION. 
(a) TERMINATION, SUSPENSION, 
AND
DEBAR-
MENT.—If the head of an executive agency determines 
that a consulting firm described in section 3(a)(1) has 
knowingly submitted a false certification or information 
on or after the date on which the Federal Acquisition Reg-
ulatory Council amends the Federal Acquisition Regula-
tion pursuant to such section, the head of the executive 
agency shall terminate the contract with the consulting 
firm and consider suspending or debarring the firm from 
eligibility for future Federal contracts in accordance with 
subpart 9.4 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 
(b) FALSE CLAIMS ACT.—A consulting firm de-
scribed in section 3(a)(1) that, for the purposes of the 
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False Claims Act, knowingly hides or misrepresents one 
or more contracts with covered foreign entities, or other-
wise violates the False Claims Act, shall be subject to the 
penalties and corrective actions described in the False 
Claims Act, including liability for three times the amount 
of damages which the United States Government sustains. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of 
the House of Representatives. 
(2) CONSULTING SERVICES.—The term ‘‘con-
sulting services’’ means advisory or assistance serv-
ices similar to those defined in Federal Acquisition 
Regulation 2.101, but for the purposes of this Act 
includes services provided to covered foreign entities, 
except that the term does not include the provision 
of products or services related to— 
(A) compliance with legal, audit, account-
ing, tax, reporting, or other requirements of the 
laws and standards of countries; or 
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(B) participation in a judicial, legal, or eq-
uitable dispute resolution proceeding. 
(3) COVERED
FOREIGN
ENTITY.—The term 
‘‘covered foreign entity’’ means any of the following: 
(A) The Government of the People’s Re-
public of China, the Chinese Communist Party, 
the People’s Liberation Army, the Ministry of 
State Security, or other security service or in-
telligence agency of the People’s Republic of 
China. 
(B) The Government of the Russian Fed-
eration or any entity sanctioned by the Sec-
retary of the Treasury under Executive Order 
13662 titled ‘‘Blocking Property of Additional 
Persons Contributing to the Situation in 
Ukraine’’ (79 Fed. Reg. 16169). 
(C) The government of any country if the 
Secretary of State determines that such govern-
ment has repeatedly provided support for acts 
of international terrorism pursuant to any of 
the following: 
(i) Section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Ex-
port Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 
U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A)). 
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(ii) Section 620A of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371). 
(iii) Section 40 of the Arms Export 
Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780). 
(iv) Any other provision of law. 
(D) Any entity included on any of the fol-
lowing lists maintained by the Department of 
Commerce: 
(i) The Entity List set forth in Sup-
plement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export 
Administration Regulations. 
(ii) The Denied Persons List as de-
scribed in section 764.3(a)(2) of the Ex-
port Administration Regulations. 
(iii) The Unverified List set forth in 
Supplement No. 6 to part 744 of the Ex-
port Administration Regulations. 
(iv) The Military End User List set 
forth in Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of 
the Export Administration Regulations. 
(E) Any entity identified by the Secretary 
of Defense pursuant to section 1237(b) of the 
Strom Thurmond National Defense Authoriza-
tion Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (Public Law 
105–261; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note). 
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(F) Any entity on the Non-SDN Chinese 
Military-Industrial Complex Companies List 
(NS–CMIC List) maintained by the Office of 
Foreign Assets Control of the Department of 
the Treasury under Executive Order 14032 (86 
Fed. Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the 
threat from securities investments that finance 
certain companies of the People’s Republic of 
China), or any successor order. 
(4) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 
agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
133 of title 41, United States Code. 
(5) FALSE
CLAIMS
ACT.—The term ‘‘False 
Claims Act’’ means sections 3729 through 3733 of 
title 31, United States Code. 
(6) NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICA-
TION SYSTEM’S INDUSTRY GROUP CODE 5416.—The 
term ‘‘North American Industry Classification Sys-
tem’s Industry Group code 5416’’ refers to the 
North American Industry Classification System cat-
egory that covers Management, Scientific, and Tech-
nical Consulting Services as Industry Group code 
5416, including industry codes 54151, 541611, 
541612, 541613, 541614, 541618, 54162, 541620, 
54169, and 541690. 
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SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING. 
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-
priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 
Æ 
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