I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 803 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance the procurement- 
related activities of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 5, 2007 
Mr. CARNEY (for himself, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. THOMPSON of Mis-
sissippi, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. DICKS, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. HARMAN, 
Mr. SOUDER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Ms. JACKSON-LEE 
of Texas, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. 
CUELLAR, and Mr. AL GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
A BILL 
To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance 
the procurement-related activities of the Department of 
Homeland Security, 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 ‘‘Department of Home-
land Security Procurement Improvement Act of 2007’’. 
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SEC. 2. HOMELAND SECURITY PROCUREMENT TRAINING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title VIII of the 
Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 836. HOMELAND SECURITY PROCUREMENT TRAIN-
ING. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Chief Procurement Of-
ficer shall provide homeland security procurement training 
to acquisition employees. 
‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHIEF PROCUREMENT 
OFFICER.—The Chief Procurement Officer shall carry out 
the following responsibilities: 
‘‘(1) Establish objectives to achieve the efficient 
and effective use of available acquisition resources 
by coordinating the acquisition education and train-
ing programs of the Department and tailoring them 
to support the careers of acquisition employees. 
‘‘(2) Develop, in consultation with the Council 
on Procurement Training established under sub-
section (d), the curriculum of the homeland security 
procurement training to be provided. 
‘‘(3) Establish, in consultation with the Council 
on Procurement Training, training standards, re-
quirements, and courses to be required for acquisi-
tion employees. 
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‘‘(4) Establish an appropriate centralized mech-
anism to control the allocation of resources for con-
ducting such required courses and other training 
and education. 
‘‘(5) Select course providers and certify courses 
to ensure that the procurement training curriculum 
supports a coherent framework for the educational 
development of acquisition employees, including the 
provision of basic, intermediate, and advanced 
courses, as well as training on the SAFETY Act (6 
U.S.C. 441). 
‘‘(6) Publish an annual catalog that includes a 
list of the acquisition education and training 
courses. 
‘‘(7) Develop a system of maintaining records 
of student enrollment, and other data related to stu-
dents and courses conducted pursuant to this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(c) PROVISION OF INSTRUCTION.—The Chief Pro-
curement Officer shall provide procurement training to ac-
quisition employees of any agency under subsection (d)(3). 
The appropriate member of the Council on Procurement 
Training may direct such an employee to receive procure-
ment training. 
‘‘(d) COUNCIL ON PROCUREMENT TRAINING.— 
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‘‘(I) Such other entity as the Secretary de-
termines is appropriate. 
‘‘(e) ACQUISITION EMPLOYEE DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘acquisition employee’ 
means an employee serving under a career or career-condi-
tional appointment in the competitive service or appoint-
ment of equivalent tenure in the excepted service of the 
Federal Government, at least 50 percent of whose as-
signed duties include acquisitions, procurement-related 
program management, or procurement-related oversight 
functions. 
‘‘(f) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than March 1 
of each year, the Chief Procurement Officer shall submit 
to the Secretary a report on the procurement training pro-
vided under this section, which shall include information 
about student enrollment, students who enroll but do not 
attend courses, graduates, certifications, and other rel-
evant information.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end of the items relating to such subtitle the following: 
‘‘Sec. 836. Homeland security procurement training.’’. 
SEC. 3. CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Such subtitle is further amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 837. CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) ATTESTATION REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 
require any offeror for any contract to provide goods or 
services to the Department to submit as part of the 
offeror’s bid for such contract an attestation that affirma-
tively discloses any substantial role the offeror, the em-
ployees of the offeror, or any corporate parent or sub-
sidiary of the offeror may have played in creating a solici-
tation, request for proposal, statement of work, or state-
ment of objectives (as those terms are defined in the Fed-
eral Acquisition Regulation) for the Department. 
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
FOR CERTAIN 
OFFERORS.—If an offeror submits an attestation under 
subparagraph (a) that discloses that the offeror, the em-
ployees of the offeror, or any corporate parent or sub-
sidiary of the offeror played a substantial role in creating 
a solicitation, request for proposal, statement of work, or 
statement of objectives for the Department, the Secretary 
shall require the offeror to submit to the Secretary a de-
scription of the safeguards used to ensure that precautions 
were in place to prevent the offeror from receiving infor-
mation through such role that could be used to provide 
the offeror an undue advantage in submitting an offer for 
a contract. 
‘‘(c) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require 
any offeror for any contract to provide goods or 
services to the Department to submit to the Sec-
retary as part of the offeror’s bid for such contract 
a certification in writing whether, as of the date on 
which the certification is submitted, the offeror— 
‘‘(A) is in default on any payment of any 
tax to the Federal Government; or 
‘‘(B) owes the Federal Government for any 
payment of any delinquent tax. 
‘‘(2) FAILURE OF CERTIFICATION.—Nothing in 
this section shall prevent the Department from 
awarding a contract to an offeror based solely on the 
offeror’s certification.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is further amended by adding 
at the end of the items relating to such subtitle the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘Sec. 837. Contracting requirements.’’. 
SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS TO REVIEW PAST 
PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACTORS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Such subtitle is further amended 
by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 838. REVIEW OF CONTRACTOR PAST PERFORMANCE. 
‘‘(a) CONSIDERATION OF CONTRACTOR PAST PER-
FORMANCE.—In awarding a contract to a contractor, the 
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Secretary shall consider the past performance of that con-
tractor based on the review conducted under subsection 
(b). 
‘‘(b) REVIEW REQUIRED.—Before awarding to a con-
tractor (including a contractor that has previously pro-
vided goods or services to the Department) a contract to 
provide goods or services to the Department, the Sec-
retary, acting through the appropriate contracting officer 
of the Department, shall require the contractor to submit 
information regarding the contractor’s performance of 
Federal, State, and local government and private sector 
contracts. 
‘‘(c) CONTACT OF RELEVANT OFFICIALS.—As part 
of any review of a contractor conducted under subsection 
(b), the Secretary, acting through an appropriate con-
tracting officer of the Department, shall contact the rel-
evant official who administered or oversaw each contract 
performed by that contractor during the five-year period 
preceding the date on which the review begins.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 
end of the items relating to such subtitle the following: 
‘‘Sec. 838. Review of contractor past performance.’’. 
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SEC. 5. PURCHASE CARDS. 
(a) REVIEW REQUIRED.—Not later than 30 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
shall— 
(1) review and strengthen the policy governing 
the use of purchase cards that the Department pro-
vides to employees of the Department for use in con-
ducting official business; and 
(2) issue Department-wide guidance on such 
policy. 
(b) DISTRIBUTION OF POLICY.—The Secretary shall 
distribute the policy or guidance developed under sub-
section (a) to each employee who possesses or is entitled 
to possess a purchase card provided by the Department. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO INFORM EMPLOYEES.—Upon 
distribution of the policy or guidance under subsection (b), 
the Secretary shall ensure that all employees of the De-
partment who are entitled to possess a purchase card 
issued by the Department have reviewed the policy or 
guidance. 
SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON DEPART-
MENT 
OF 
HOMELAND 
SECURITY 
CON-
TRACTING. 
Not later than 6 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit 
to Congress a report on the contracting processes of the 
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Department of Homeland Security. The report shall con-
tain the findings of the Comptroller General with respect 
to any improvements in such processes that could be made 
through the use of new technologies. 
Æ 
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