Time to Choose Act of 2022

Bill: 117-s-4546
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO]
Introduced: 2022-07-18
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Latest action: action_date: 2022-07-18
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-07-18
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Time to Choose Act of 2022</strong></p> <p>This bill prohibits federal contracting with consulting firms that are simultaneously contracting with China.</p> <p>The bill establishes penalties (1) including termination, suspension, and debarment from eligibility for future federal contracts, for knowingly submitting a false certification or information on contracting with China; and (2) under the False Claims Act for intentionally hiding or misrepresenting contracts with China.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4546 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 18, 2022 Mr. Hawley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To prohibit conflict of interests among consulting firms that simultaneously contract with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the United States Government, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Time to Choose Act of 2022 . 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) The Department of Defense and other agencies in the United States Government regularly award contracts to firms such as Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and others who are simultaneously providing consulting services to the Government of the People’s Republic of China and proxies or affiliates thereof. (2) The provision of such consulting services by firms like Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and others to entities in the People’s Republic of China directly supports efforts by that nation’s government to generate economic and military power that it can then use to undermine the economic and national security of the American people, including through economic coercion and by threatening or using military force against us. (3) It is a conflict of interest for firms like Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and others to simultaneously aid in the efforts of the Government of the People's Republic of China to undermine the economic and national security of the United States while they are simultaneously contracting with the Department of Defense and other United States Government agencies responsible for defending the United States from foreign threats, above all from China. (4) Firms like Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, and others should no longer be allowed to engage in such a conflict of interest and should instead be required to choose between aiding the efforts of the Government of the People's Republic of China to harm the United States or helping the United States Government to defend its citizens against such foreign coercion. 3. Prohibition on Federal contracting with entities that are simultaneously aiding in the efforts of the People’s Republic of China to harm the United States In order to end conflict of interests in Federal contracting among consulting firms that simultaneously contract with the United States Government and covered foreign entities, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation— (1) to require any entity that provides the services described in the North American Industry Classification System’s Industry Group code 5416, prior to entering into a Federal contract, to certify that neither it nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates hold a contract with one or more covered foreign entities; and (2) to prohibit Federal contracts from being awarded to an entity that provides the 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 paragraph (1) or other information, to be a contractor of, or otherwise providing services to, a covered foreign entity. 4. Penalties for false information on contracting with the People’s Republic of China (a) Termination, suspension, and debarment If the head of an executive agency determines that a consulting firm described in section 3 has knowingly submitted a false certification or information on or after the date on which the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation 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 described in section 3 that, for the purposes of the False Claims Act, intentionally hides or misrepresents one or more contracts with covered foreign entities 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, including funds or other resources expended on or in support of the solicitation, selection, and performance of such contracts. 5. Definitions In this Act: (1) Covered foreign entity The term covered foreign entity means— (A) a person, business trust, business association, company, institution, government agency, university, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or any other individual or organization that can legally enter into contracts, own properties, or pay taxes on behalf of, the Government of the People’s Republic of China; (B) the Chinese Communist Party; (C) the People’s Republic of China’s United Front; (D) an entity owned or controlled by, or that performs activities on behalf of, a person or entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); and (E) an individual that is a member of the board of directors, an executive officer, or a senior official of an entity described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D). (2) Executive agency The term executive agency has the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United States Code. (3) False Claims Act The term False Claims Act means sections 3729 through 3733 of title 31, United States Code. (4) North American Industry Classification System's Industry Group code 5416 The term North American Industry Classification System’s Industry Group code 5416 refers to the North American Industry Classification System category that covers Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services as Industry Group code 5416, including industry codes 54151, 541611, 541612, 541613, 541614, 541618, 54162, 541620, 54169, 541690.