I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 721
To ensure that the business of the Federal Government is conducted in
the public interest and in a manner that provides for public account-
ability, efficient delivery of services, reasonable cost savings, and preven-
tion of unwarranted Government expenses, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 14, 2001
Mr. WYNN (for himself, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. EDDIE
BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MEEKS of New York,
Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. FROST, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. GEORGE
MILLER of California, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. WATT of North Carolina,
Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri,
Mr. SISISKY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr.
KILDEE, Mr. FILNER, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. SAWYER, Mr.
STUPAK, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. DICKS, Ms.
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. SPRATT, Mr.
KLECZKA, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. ABER-
CROMBIE, Mr. FRANK, Mr. MOORE, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mrs.
MALONEY of New York, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. HOYER, Mr. ALLEN,
Mrs. THURMAN, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr.
FORD, Mr. STARK, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. STRICKLAND, Ms.
PELOSI, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. BROWN of
Florida, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. BACA, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mrs.
MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. GREEN of Texas, and Mr.
RAHALL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Government Reform
A BILL
To ensure that the business of the Federal Government
is conducted in the public interest and in a manner
that provides for public accountability, efficient delivery
of services, reasonable cost savings, and prevention of
unwarranted Government expenses, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Con-
tracting Act’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Temporary 
suspension 
of 
new 
contracting 
out, 
privatization,
outsourcing, contracting, and other such initiatives; waiver au-
thority.
Sec. 5. Agency reporting systems and required reports.
Sec. 6. Requirement for public-private competition.
Sec. 7. Review of contractor performance.
Sec. 8. Survey of wages and benefits provided by contractors.
Sec. 9. Comptroller General reports.
Sec. 10. Applicability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) There has been a major increase in service
contracting (relying on private contractors to provide
services to the Federal Government) since 1993.
(2) Federal agencies have been increasing reli-
ance on service contracting even though there are no
reliable and comprehensive reporting systems in
place to determine whether service contracting has
achieved measurable cost savings or improved Gov-
ernment services for taxpayers.
(3) Federal agencies have contracted out work
that either is being performed or could be performed
by Federal employees without any public-private
competition.
(4) Federal employees are being replaced by
contractor employees without even knowing with cer-
tainty if the result is reduced costs or improved serv-
ices.
(5) Federal agencies do not have systems in
place to provide for work currently performed by
Federal contractors to be performed by Federal em-
ployees, even after a determination that in-house
performance would be more efficient and more cost
effective.
(6) Arbitrary personnel ceilings, used to reduce
the size of the Federal workforce, are—
(A) forcing agencies to lay off Federal em-
ployees who could perform at least some of this
work effectively and at a savings to the tax-
payer;
(B) preventing agencies from hiring new
Federal employees who could perform this work
effectively and at a savings to taxpayers; and
(C) forcing agencies to give work to private
contractors without any public-private competi-
tion, often at higher costs.
(7) Public-private competition must be used eq-
uitably in order to be fair to both taxpayers and
Federal employees.
(8) It would be in the best interests of tax-
payers if Federal contractors faced the same level of
public-private competition as that experienced by
Federal employees, especially when it has been reli-
ably determined that the Federal contractor work-
force is almost twice as large as the Federal em-
ployee workforce.
(9) In order to satisfactorily address these seri-
ous problems, Federal service contracting should be
temporarily suspended.
(10) This suspension should affect only new
contracts, and include a waiver to allow agencies to
enter into new contracts in certain circumstances in
order to preclude any serious Federal Government
disruption.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) improve the ability of the Federal Govern-
ment to carry out its mission and perform its busi-
ness in the public interest in a cost-effective manner;
and
(2) temporarily suspend new Federal service
contracting until agencies have—
(A) established comprehensive and reliable
reporting systems to track the costs of service
contracting;
(B) prevented work from being given to
contractors without public-private competitions;
and
(C) subjected work performed by Federal
contractors to the same level of public-private
competition as that experienced by Federal em-
ployees.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘employee’’ means any individual
employed—
(A) as a civilian in a military department
(as defined in section 102 of title 5, United
States Code);
(B) in an executive agency (as defined in
section 105 of title 5, United States Code), in-
cluding an employee who is paid from non-
appropriated funds;
(C) in those units of the legislative and ju-
dicial branches of the Federal Government hav-
ing positions in the competitive service;
(D) in the Library of Congress;
(E) in the Government Printing Office; or
(F) by the Governors of the Federal Re-
serve System.
(2) The term ‘‘agency’’ means any department,
agency, bureau, commission, activity, or organization
of the United States, that employs an employee (as
defined in paragraph (1)).
(3) The term ‘‘non-Federal personnel’’ means
employed individuals who are not employees, as de-
fined in paragraph (1).
(4) The term ‘‘contractor’’ means an individual
or entity that performs a function for an agency
under a contract with non-Federal personnel.
(5) The term ‘‘privatization’’ means the end re-
sult of the decision of an agency to exit a business
line, terminate an activity, or sell Government owned
assets or operational capabilities to the non-Federal
sector.
(6) The term ‘‘outsourcing’’ means the end re-
sult of the decision of an agency to acquire services
from external sources, either from a non-Federal
source or through interservice support agreements,
through a contract.
(7) The term ‘‘contracting out’’ means the con-
version by an agency of the performance of a func-
tion to the performance by a non-Federal employee
under a contract between an agency and an indi-
vidual or other entity.
(8) The term ‘‘contracting in’’ is the conversion
of the performance of a function by non-Federal em-
ployees under a contract between an agency and an
individual or other entity to the performance by em-
ployees.
(9) The term ‘‘contracting’’ means the perform-
ance of a function by non-Federal employees under
a contract between an agency and an individual or
other entity. The term ‘‘contracting’’, as used
throughout 
this 
Act, 
includes 
privatization,
outsourcing, contracting out, and contracting, unless
otherwise specifically provided.
(10)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the term
‘‘critical for the provision of patient care’’ means di-
rect patient medical and hospital care that the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs or other Federal hos-
pitals or clinics are not capable of furnishing be-
cause of geographical inaccessibility, medical emer-
gency, or the particularly unique type of care or
service required.
(B) The term does not include support and ad-
ministrative services for hospital and clinic oper-
ations, including food service, laundry services,
grounds maintenance, transportation services, office
operations, and supply processing and distribution
services.
SEC. 4. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF NEW CONTRACTING
OUT, PRIVATIZATION, OUTSOURCING, CON-
TRACTING, AND OTHER SUCH INITIATIVES;
WAIVER AUTHORITY.
(a) SUSPENSION.—(1) Beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act, no agency shall make a decision,
with respect to any function performed by the agency, to
privatize, outsource, contract out, or contract for the per-
formance of such function, or to conduct a study to con-
vert the performance of the function to the performance
by a contractor. This subsection does not apply to work
performed by the private sector prior to the date of enact-
ment of this Act.
(2)(A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an agency
may undertake a contracting effort of a function not then
performed by Federal employees if the function would be
performed under contract by the blind or handicapped (or
both).
(B) Any contract entered into pursuant to subpara-
graph (A) shall be immediately terminated if it is deter-
mined that the performance of the function is not being
carried out by the blind or handicapped.
(C) In this paragraph:
(i) The term ‘‘blind’’ has the meaning that term
has in section 5(1) of the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act
(41 U.S.C. 48b(1)).
(ii) The term ‘‘handicapped’’ means an indi-
vidual or class of individuals with a disability, as
that term is defined in section 7(9) of the Rehabili-
tation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 705(9)).
(b) WAIVER.—(1) Any agency may submit to the Di-
rector of the Office of Management and Budget a request
for a waiver of this section with regard to a particular
function. Such a waiver request shall—
(A) identify the facilities, units, or activities af-
fected;
(B) specify the reason a waiver is needed;
(C) identify the duration sought; and
(D) explain the justification for the waiver.
(2) The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget may grant a waiver with regard to a particular
function if the Director determines that a waiver—
(A) is necessary for the preservation of national
security;
(B) is critical for the provision of patient care;
or
(C) is necessary to prevent extraordinary eco-
nomic harm.
(3) The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget may not grant a waiver under this section until
the Director publishes the request of the agency for a
waiver in the Federal Register.
(c) EXCEPTIONS.—(1) Subsection (b) shall not apply
with regard to a function performed by employees within
a unit with respect to which a labor organization is ac-
corded exclusive recognition under chapter 71 of title 5,
United States Code—
(A) if the waiver would violate a collective bar-
gaining agreement (as defined in section 7103(a)(8)
of title 5, United States Code) between the agency
and the labor organization, unless there is another
written waiver between the agency and the labor or-
ganization; or
(B) if the waiver is not covered by such a col-
lective bargaining agreement, until there has been
consultation or negotiation, as appropriate, by the
agency with the labor organization.
(2) Subsection (b) shall not apply with regard to a
function performed by employees within any unit with re-
spect to which a labor organization has not been accorded
exclusive recognition under chapter 71, title 5, United
States Code, unless the agency has consulted with the em-
ployees in the unit regarding the waiver.
SEC. 5. AGENCY REPORTING SYSTEMS AND REQUIRED RE-
PORTS.
(a) CENTRALIZED REPORTING SYSTEM.—Not later
than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
each agency shall establish a centralized reporting system
in accordance with guidance promulgated by the Office of
Management and Budget that allows the agency to gen-
erate periodic reports on the contracting efforts of the
agency. Such centralized reporting system shall be de-
signed to enable the agency to generate reports on efforts
regarding both contracting out and contracting in.
(b) REPORTS ON CONTRACTING EFFORTS.—(1) Not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, every agency shall generate and submit to the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget a report
on the contracting efforts of the agency undertaken during
the 2 fiscal years immediately preceding the fiscal year
during which this Act is enacted. Such report shall comply
with the requirements in paragraph (3).
(2) For the current fiscal year and every fiscal year
thereafter, every agency shall complete and submit to the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget a report
on the contracting efforts undertaken by the agency dur-
ing the current fiscal year. Such reports shall comply with
the requirements in paragraph (3), and shall be completed
and submitted not later than the end of the first fiscal
quarter of the subsequent fiscal year.
(3) The reports referred to in this subsection shall
include the following information with regard to each con-
tracting effort undertaken by the agency:
(A) The contract number and the Federal sup-
ply class or service code.
(B) A statement of why the contracting effort
was undertaken and an explanation of what alter-
natives to the contracting effort were considered and
why such alternatives were ultimately rejected.
(C) The names, addresses, and telephone num-
bers of the officials who supervised the contracting
effort.
(D) The competitive process used or the statu-
tory or regulatory authority relied on to enter into
the contract without public-private competition.
(E) The cost of Federal employee performance
at the time the work was contracted out (if the work
had previously been performed by Federal employ-
ees).
(F) The cost of Federal employee performance
under a Most Efficient Organization plan (if the
work was contracted out through OMB Circular A–
76).
(G) The anticipated cost of contractor perform-
ance, based on the award.
(H) The current cost of contractor perform-
ance.
(I) The actual savings, expressed both as a dol-
lar amount and as a percentage of the cost of per-
formance by Federal employees, based on the cur-
rent cost, and an explanation of the difference, if
any.
(J) A description of the quality control process
used by the agency in connection with monitoring
the contracting effort, identification of the applicable
quality control standards, the frequency of the prep-
aration of quality control reports, and an assessment
of whether the contractor met, exceeded, or failed to
achieve the quality control standards.
(K) The number of employees performing the
contracting effort under the contract and any re-
lated subcontracts.
(c) REPORT ON CONTRACTING EFFORTS.—(1) For
the current fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter,
every agency shall complete and submit to the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget a report on the
contracting efforts undertaken by the agency during the
current fiscal year. Such reports shall comply with the re-
quirements in paragraph (2), and shall be completed and
submitted not later than the end of the first fiscal quarter
of the subsequent fiscal year.
(2) The reports referred to in paragraph (1) shall in-
clude the following information for each contracting in ef-
fort undertaken by the agency:
(A) A description of the type of work involved.
(B) A statement of why the contracting in ef-
fort was undertaken.
(C) The names, addresses, and telephone num-
bers of the officials who supervised the contracting
in effort.
(D) The cost of performance at the time the
work was contracted in.
(E) The current cost of performance by Federal
employees or military personnel.
(d) REPORT ON EMPLOYEE POSITIONS.—Not later
than 30 days after the end of the current fiscal year and
every fiscal year thereafter, every agency shall report on
the number of Federal employee positions and positions
held by non-Federal employees under a contract between
the agency and an individual or entity that has been sub-
ject to public-private competition.
(e) COMMITTEES
TO WHICH REPORTS MUST BE
SUBMITTED.—The reports referred to in this section shall
be submitted to the Committee on Government Reform of
the House of Representatives and to the Committee on
Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
(f) PUBLICATION.—The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall promptly publish in the
Federal Register notices including a description of when
the reports referred to in this section are available to the
public and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers
of the officials from whom the reports may be obtained.
(g) AVAILABILITY ON INTERNET.—After the excision
of proprietary information, the reports referred to in this
section shall be made available through the Internet.
(h) REVIEW.—The Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget shall review the reports referred to in
this section and consult with the head of the agency re-
garding the content of such reports.
SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMPETI-
TION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—After the date of the enactment
of this Act and the expiration of the suspension authority
in section 4 of this Act, any decision by an agency to pri-
vatize, outsource, contract or contract out, including the
exercise of options, extensions, and renewals of any con-
tracting efforts, for the performance of a function shall
be based on the results of a public-private competition
process that—
(1) formally compares the costs of Federal em-
ployee performance of the function with the costs of
the performance by a contractor;
(2) employs the most efficient organization
process described in OMB Circular A–76; and
(3) is conducted in consultation or through bar-
gaining with the exclusive representative of the Fed-
eral employees performing the function, if applicable.
This subsection does not apply to work performed by
the private sector prior to the date of enactment of
this Act.
(b) DETERMINATION OF COSTS.—(1) An agency shall
commence or continue the performance of a function by
Federal employees if, under a cost comparison performed
pursuant to a public-private competition process described
in subsection (a), the agency determines that at least a
10-percent cost savings would not be achieved by perform-
ance of the function by a contractor.
(2) During the temporary suspension established in
section 4 of this Act, an agency may undertake a con-
tracting effort made pursuant to the issuance of a waiver
granted under section 4 for a function that is not cur-
rently performed by Federal employees if the agency has
determined the total cost to the agency of performing the
function by a contractor and the total cost to the agency
of having those services performed by Federal employees
and that the contractor performance costs are less than
the Federal employee performance costs.
(c) INAPPLICABILITY
OF CERTAIN LIMITATION.—
Notwithstanding any limitation on the number of Federal
employees established by law, regulation, or policy, an
agency may continue to employ, or may hire, such Federal
employees as are necessary to perform work acquired
through public-private competition required by this sec-
tion.
SEC. 7. REVIEW OF CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If a report completed pursuant to
section 5 indicates that, for 2 consecutive years, the actual
cost of privatization, outsourcing, contracting, or con-
tracting out of a particular function exceeds the antici-
pated cost of contractor performance, based on the award
(referred to in section 5(b)(3)(G)), or fails to substantially
meet quality control standards (referred to in section
5(b)(3)(J)), the agency shall either conduct a new public-
private competition or convert the function to performance
by Federal employees not later than the earlier of the date
of the expiration of the contract or the beginning of the
first fiscal year which is not more than 12 months after
the initial determination that the cost of a contracting ef-
fort exceeds the anticipated cost of contractor performance
or that quality standards have not been substantially met.
Any resulting terminations for convenience may be under-
taken without cost to the United States Government. This
subsection does not apply to work performed by the pri-
vate sector prior to the date of enactment of this Act.
(b) PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMPETITION.—For each fiscal
year, an agency shall subject to public-private competition
an equivalent number of Federal employee positions and
positions held by non-Federal employees under a contract
between an agency and an individual or entity.
(c) INAPPLICABILITY
OF CERTAIN LIMITATION.—
Notwithstanding any limitation on the number of Federal
employees established by law, regulation, or policy, an
agency may continue to employ or may hire such Federal
employees as are necessary to perform work acquired
through public-private competition required by this sec-
tion.
SEC. 8. SURVEY OF WAGES AND BENEFITS PROVIDED BY
CONTRACTORS.
(a) REQUIREMENT TO CONDUCT SURVEY.—Using
information provided by agencies, the Secretary of Labor
shall conduct a survey of the wages and quantifiable bene-
fits provided by contractors to non-Federal personnel
working in various occupations under contracts between
agencies and individuals or entities that were entered into
during the 2 fiscal years immediately preceding the date
of the enactment of this Act.
(b) REVIEW.—(1) The Director of the Office of Per-
sonnel Management shall—
(A) review the analysis prepared by the Sec-
retary of Labor under subsection (a) and determine
the extent to which the wages and quantifiable bene-
fits paid by contractors are comparable to the wages
and quantifiable benefits earned by Federal employ-
ees; and
(B) issue a report on the findings of the review.
(2) Not later than 180 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the report shall be submitted to the
Committee on Government Reform of the House of Rep-
resentatives and to the Committee on Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate, and published in the Federal Register.
(c) GUIDANCE.—The Director of the Office of Man-
agement and Budget shall issue guidance to implement
the provisions of this section.
SEC. 9. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS.
The Comptroller General shall report to the Com-
mittee on Government Reform of the House of Represent-
atives and the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the
Senate every 60 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act on the compliance by agencies with the require-
ments of this Act.
SEC. 10. APPLICABILITY.
This Act—
(1) does not apply with respect to the General
Accounting Office;
(2) does not apply with respect to depot-level
maintenance and repair of the Department of De-
fense (as defined in section 2460 of title 10, United
States Code); and
(3) does not apply with respect to contracts for
the construction of new structures or the remodeling
of or additions to existing structures, but shall apply
to all contracts for the repair and maintenance of
any structures.
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