On the recordJune 2, 2015
This amendment is identical to other amendments that have been inserted by voice vote into every appropriations bill considered under an open rule this year and in the last Congress as well. My amendment expands the list of parties with whom the Federal Government is prohibited from contracting due to serious misconduct on the part of the contractors. Specifically, the list would include contractors who within a 3-year period preceding an offer have been convicted or have had a civil judgment rendered against them for fraud, violation of Federal or state antitrust laws, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, violation of Federal tax laws, and other items outlined in section 52.209-5 of title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations. {time} 0010 These are all offenses which any contractor doing business with the Federal Government must disclose to a contracting officer, but oddly enough, the contracting officer would then be free to ignore these transgressions and award contracts to offending entities, absent my amendment. I commend the authors of this bill for their inclusion of section 523. I still believe, however, that we can improve on this bill by prohibiting agencies from contracting with those entities who have engaged in the activities described above. It is my hope that this amendment will be noncontroversial, as it has been on every previous occasion and again be passed unanimously by the House. I reserve the balance of my time.
