Bipartisan group seeks to limit who federal agencies can contract with

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks at a Senate Republican news conference in  on March 09, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Ernst introduced the measure with Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, speaks at a Senate Republican news conference in on March 09, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Ernst introduced the measure with Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Organizations involved with certain adversarial nations creates conflicts of interest, the senators say.

A bipartisan group of senators is looking to set new limitations on the entities with which federal agencies can contract, introducing legislation to ban the government from doing business with companies that work with certain other nations. 

The Combating Obstructive National Security Underreporting of Legitimate Threats (CONSULT) Act (S. 4516) would require the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to create a governmentwide policy to eliminate newly defined “conflicts of interest” that relate to national security in federal contracting. In practice, that would mean companies and organizations that do business with China or a China state-owned enterprise and Russia or a Russia state-owned enterprise would face a new ban. It would also include Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba—all labeled as state sponsors of terror—or any other country deemed by the State Department as engaged in crimes against humanity. 

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, introduced the measure with Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., after NBC News reported the consulting firm McKinsey was contracting with the Defense Department while also advising the Chinese and Russian state-owned entities on military efforts in those nations. McKinsey came under fire for failing to reveal those relationships. 

The bill would require consulting firms to disclose any potential conflicts, including any current or recent contracts, with banned nations or entities. Any relationships fitting the parameters for a conflict would be grounds for denial of a contract. Failure to disclose them could result in suspensions of existing contracts and debarment from federal contracting in the future. OFPP would have to update the Federal Acquisition Regulation to comply with the new restrictions. 

“The U.S. is playing a dangerous game,” Ernst said. “It’s past time we put safeguards in place to ensure no firms hired by the federal government are working simultaneously to support the agenda of our adversaries like China and Russia.”

Several good government groups also threw their support behind the bill. Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, said the system had been watered down over the years and individual contracting officers faced undue burdens in identifying and avoiding organizational conflicts of interest. 

“This bill will help officials by requiring certain disclosures, including beneficial owners, at the award process and during a contract to ensure that companies with ties to foreign adversaries aren't getting national security information and federal dollars,” Amey said. 

Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the high-dollar value often associated with the types of contracts the bill is targeting makes it vital to allow for contract denial or contractor debarment when appropriate. 

“In order to ensure the integrity of the services these businesses provide to our country, it is critical that we protect these contractual relationships from the reality or even the appearance of conflicts of interest,” Bookbinder said. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has previously sounded the alarm on the issue, introducing legislation to require federal contractors to disclose any existing contract with the Chinese government or entities it controls. Rubio similarly cited previously reported relationships between McKinsey and China, saying it created an “institutional conflict of interest.” 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.