Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act
Bill: H.R.7602 | Sponsor: Rep. Maloney, Carolyn B. (D-NY)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act
This bill addresses conflicts of interest in federal acquisitions.
Specifically, the bill directs the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to (1) identify contracting methods, types, and services that raise heightened concerns for potential organizational conflicts of interest beyond those currently addressed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR); and (2) revise the FAR to address organizational conflicts of interest and require executive agencies to take certain actions.
The council must revise the FAR to

To prevent organizational conflicts of interest in Federal acquisition, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Organizational Conflicts 
of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Federal Government's reliance on contractors for 
        mission support services can create the potential for conflicts 
        of interest related to impaired objectivity or undue influence 
        due to contractor business relationships with regulated or 
        other entities.
            (2) Comptroller General bid protest decisions in recent 
        years have shown failures in proper identification and 
        mitigation of organizational conflicts of interest. These 
        decisions focus on the issue of ``impaired objectivity'' in 
        contract support, or a situation in which a contractor is 
        unable to provide impartial recommendations and advice to the 
        Government due to competing interests of the contractor.
            (3) Prior efforts by the Administrator for Federal 
        Procurement Policy and the Director of the Office of Government 
        Ethics, undertaken pursuant to the Duncan Hunter National 
        Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-
        417), have determined that changes are needed to the Federal 
        Acquisition Regulation to prevent and mitigate conflicts of 
        interest in Federal contracting.
            (4) Protecting against conflicts of interest in Federal 
        acquisition is vital to the integrity of Government operations.

SEC. 3. PREVENTING ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN FEDERAL 
              ACQUISITION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 18 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council 
shall--
            (1) identify contracting methods, types, and services that 
        raise heightened concerns for potential organizational 
        conflicts of interest beyond those currently addressed in the 
        Federal Acquisition Regulation; and
            (2) revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation to--
                    (A) address organizational conflicts of interest 
                with sufficiently rigorous, comprehensive, and 
                consistent governmentwide policy and guidance to 
                prevent or effectively mitigate such conflicts of 
                interest in Federal acquisition;
                    (B) provide and update definitions related to 
                organizational conflicts of interest, to include 
                contractor relationships with public, private, 
                domestic, and foreign entities that may cause contract 
                support to be subject to potential conflicts of 
                interest, including undue influence;
                    (C) provide executive agencies with solicitation 
                provisions and contract clauses that require 
                contractors to disclose information relevant to 
                potential organizational conflicts of interest and 
                limit future contracting with respect to potential 
                conflicts of interest with the work to be performed 
                under the awarded contract, for agency use as needed;
                    (D) require executive agencies to tailor the 
                solicitation and contract clauses described in 
                subparagraph (C) as necessary to provide specifics on 
                information required to be disclosed and limitations on 
                future contracting based on the potential for conflict 
                with the work to be performed under the awarded 
                contract; and
                    (E) require executive agencies to establish or 
                update agency conflict of interest procedures to 
                implement the Federal Acquisition Regulation revisions 
                made under this section, and periodically assess and 
                update these agency procedures as needed to address 
                agency-specific conflict of interest issues.
    (b) Executive Agency Defined.--In this section, the term 
``executive agency'' has the meaning given the term in section 133 of 
title 41, United States Code.
                                 <all>