110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3033 
AN ACT 
To improve Federal agency awards and oversight of contracts 
and assistance and to strengthen accountability of the 
Government-wide suspension and debarment system. 
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 ‘‘Contractors and Fed-
eral Spending Accountability Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. DATABASE FOR CONTRACTING OFFICERS AND SUS-
PENSION AND DEBARMENT OFFICIALS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the authority, direc-
tion, and control of the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget, the Administrator of General Services 
shall establish and maintain a database of information re-
garding integrity and performance of persons awarded 
Federal contracts and grants for use by Federal officials 
having authority over contracts and grants. 
(b) PERSONS COVERED.—The database shall cover 
any person awarded a Federal contract or grant if any 
information described in subsection (c) exists with respect 
to such person. 
(c) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—With respect to a 
person awarded a Federal contract or grant, the database 
shall include information (in the form of a brief descrip-
tion) for at least the most recent 5-year period regard-
ing— 
(1) any civil or criminal proceeding, or any ad-
ministrative proceeding to the extent that such pro-
ceeding results in both a finding of fault on the part 
of the person and the payment of restitution to a 
government of $5,000 or more, concluded by the
Federal Government or any State government 
against the person, and any amount paid by the per-
son to the Federal Government or a State govern-
ment; 
(2) all Federal contracts and grants awarded to 
the person that were terminated in such period due 
to default; 
(3) all Federal suspensions and debarments of 
the person in that period; 
(4) all Federal administrative agreements en-
tered into by the person and the Federal Govern-
ment in that period to resolve a suspension or debar-
ment proceeding and, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, agreements involving a suspension or debar-
ment proceeding entered into by the person and a 
State government in that period; and 
(5) all final findings by a Federal official in 
that period that the person has been determined not 
to be a responsible source under either subparagraph 
(C) or (D) of section 4(7) of the Office of Federal 
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(7)). 
(d) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO INFORMATION IN 
DATABASE.— 
(1) DIRECT INPUT AND UPDATE.—The Admin-
istrator shall design and maintain the database in a
manner that allows the appropriate officials of each 
Federal agency to directly input and update in the 
database information relating to actions it has taken 
with regard to contractors or grant recipients. 
(2) TIMELINESS AND ACCURACY.—The Admin-
istrator shall develop policies to require— 
(A) the timely and accurate input of infor-
mation into the database; 
(B) notification of any covered person 
when information relevant to the person is en-
tered into the database; and 
(C) an opportunity for any covered person 
to append comments to information about such 
person in the database. 
(e) AVAILABILITY.— 
(1) AVAILABILITY
TO
ALL
FEDERAL
AGEN-
CIES.—The Administrator shall make the database 
available to all Federal agencies. 
(2) AVAILABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.—The Ad-
ministrator shall make the database available to the 
public by posting the database on the General Serv-
ices Administration website. 
(3) LIMITATION.—This subsection does not re-
quire the public availability of information that is
exempt from public disclosure under section 552(b) 
of title 5, United States Code. 
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF DATABASE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO REVIEW DATABASE.—Prior to 
the award of a contract or grant, an official responsible 
for awarding a contract or grant shall review the database 
established under section 2. 
(b) REQUIREMENT
TO DOCUMENT PRESENT RE-
SPONSIBILITY.—In the case of a prospective awardee of 
a contract or grant against which a judgment or conviction 
has been rendered more than once within any 3-year pe-
riod for the same or similar offences, if each judgment 
or conviction is a cause for debarment, the official respon-
sible for awarding the contract or grant shall document 
why the prospective awardee is considered presently re-
sponsible. 
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE IN APPLICATIONS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, Federal regulations 
shall be amended to require that in applying for any Fed-
eral grant or submitting a proposal or bid for any Federal 
contract a person shall disclose in writing information de-
scribed in section 2(c). 
(b) COVERED CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—This sec-
tion shall apply only to contracts and grants in an amount
greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, as de-
fined in section 4(11) of the Office of Federal Procure-
ment Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 401(11)). 
SEC. 5. ROLE OF INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Interagency Committee on 
Debarment and Suspension shall— 
(1) resolve issues regarding which of several 
Federal agencies is the lead agency having responsi-
bility to initiate suspension or debarment pro-
ceedings; 
(2) coordinate actions among interested agen-
cies with respect to such action; 
(3) encourage and assist Federal agencies in 
entering into cooperative efforts to pool resources 
and achieve operational efficiencies in the Govern-
mentwide suspension and debarment system; 
(4) recommend to the Office of Management 
and Budget changes to Government suspension and 
debarment system and its rules, if such rec-
ommendations are approved by a majority of the 
Interagency Committee; 
(5) authorize the Office of Management and 
Budget to issue guidelines that implement those rec-
ommendations;