H.R. 2989

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2989 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2989

To prohibit conflicts of interest among consulting firms that 
simultaneously contract with China or other covered foreign entities 
and the United States Government, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 24, 2025

Mr. Bresnahan introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To prohibit conflicts of interest among consulting firms that 
simultaneously contract with China or other covered foreign entities 
and the United States Government, 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 ``Time to Choose Act of 2025''.

SEC. 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 
that are simultaneously providing consulting services to 
foreign governments and proxies or affiliates thereof.
(2) The provision of such consulting services to covered 
foreign entities may support efforts by certain foreign 
governments to generate economic and military power that they 
can then use to undermine the economic and national security of 
the American people.
(3) It is a conflict of interest for consulting firms to 
simultaneously aid in the efforts of certain foreign 
governments to undermine the economic and national security of 
the United States while they are simultaneously contracting 
with Federal agencies responsible for protecting and defending 
the United States from foreign threats.
(4) Firms should be prevented from engaging in such a 
conflict of interest and should instead be required to choose 
between aiding the efforts of certain foreign governments or 
helping the United States Government to support and defend its 
citizens.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL CONTRACTING WITH ENTITIES THAT ARE 
SIMULTANEOUSLY AIDING IN THE EFFORTS OF COVERED FOREIGN 
ENTITIES.

(a) In General.--In order to end conflicts of interest 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 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, amend the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation--
(1) to require any entity that makes an offer or quotation 
to provide consulting services to an executive agency, 
including 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 consulting 
contract with one or more covered foreign entities; and
(2) to prohibit Federal contracts for consulting services 
from being awarded to an entity that provides consulting 
services, including 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), to be a contractor of, or are otherwise 
providing consulting services to, a covered foreign entity.
(b) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--Subject to the limitations in paragraph 
(2), the head of an executive agency may waive the conflict of 
interest restrictions under this section on a case-by-case 
basis if--
(A) the agency head, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Defense and the Director of National 
Intelligence, determines the waiver to be in the 
national security interests of the United States;
(B) the agency head determines that no other entity 
without a conflict of interest under this section can 
perform the work for the Federal contract;
(C) the head of the executive agency submits to the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget a 
notification of such waiver at least 5 days prior to 
issuing the waiver;
(D) the head of the executive agency submits to the 
appropriate congressional committees a notification of 
such waiver within 30 days in unclassified form 
(accompanied by a classified annex if necessary) and 
offers a briefing to those committees on the 
information included in the notification; and
(E) the contracting agency publishes in an easily 
accessible location on the agency's public website a 
list of the names of the covered foreign entities to 
which the entity receiving a waiver provides consulting 
services, unless the head of the applicable executive 
agency, with the approval of the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget, and in consultation with the 
Secretary of Defense and Director of National 
Intelligence, determines that such public disclosure 
would directly harm the national security interests of 
the United States.
(2) Limitations.--
(A) Duration.--A waiver granted under paragraph (1) 
shall last for a period of not more than 365 days. The 
head of the applicable executive agency, with the 
approval of the Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget, and in consultation with the Secretary of 
Defense and Director of National Intelligence, may 
extend a waiver granted under such paragraph one time, 
for a period up to 180 days after the date on which the 
waiver would otherwise expire, if such an extension is 
in the national security interests of the United States 
and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
submits to the appropriate congressional committees a 
notification of such waiver and offers a briefing to 
those committees on the information included in the 
notification.
(B) Number.--Not more than one total waiver across 
all executive agencies may be granted under paragraph 
(1) to a single entity at a given time.
(C) Notification requirements.--The notification 
required under subparagraphs (C) and (D) of paragraph 
(1) shall include the following information:
(i) Information on the contractor, 
including--
(I) the name, address, and 
corporate structure of the contractor;
(II) the name, address, and 
corporate structure of any subsidiaries 
or subcontractors involved;
(III) all foreign ownership of the 
contractor;
(IV) all foreign real estate owned 
by the contractor; and
(V) an employee designated as 
responsible for managing any conflict 
of interests that may arise as part of 
the contract.
(ii) Information on the covered foreign 
entities involved to the extent known by the 
contractor, including--
(I) the name and address of the 
covered foreign entity;
(II) the name and address of any 
subsidiaries or subcontractors 
involved;
(III) a complete history of any 
contracts between the covered foreign 
entity and the contractor;
(IV) all ownership of the covered 
foreign entity; and
(V) any legal authorities providing 
a foreign government with access or 
control over the covered foreign 
entity.
(iii) Information on the nature of the work 
performed for the covered foreign entities, 
including--
(I) the projected and actual dollar 
value of the contract;
(II) the projected and actual 
duration of the contract;
(III) the projected and actual 
number of employees to work on the 
contract;
(IV) the projected and actual 
number of employees who are United 
States citizens who work on the 
contract;
(V) the projected and actual number 
of employees who currently or formerly 
held security clearances with the 
United States Government who work on 
the contract;
(VI) the subject matter of the 
contract;
(VII) any materials provided to the 
covered foreign entity in order to 
secure the contract;
(VIII) any tracking number used by 
the covered foreign entity to identify 
the contract;
(IX) any tracking number or 
information used by the contractor to 
identify the contract; and
(X) any military or intelligence 
applications that could benefit from 
the contract.
(iv) Justification of the executive 
agency's need for providing the waiver.
(v) An acceptable management oversight plan 
to ensure that the work performed for the 
covered foreign entities does not compromise 
the work being performed for the Federal 
Government or harm the national security of the 
United States, to be approved at not lower than 
the Deputy Secretary level at the contracting 
agency.
(3) Contractor reporting.--The executive agency granting a 
waiver under this subsection shall require the contractor, in 
the event the contractor identifies any of the following during 
the performance of the contract, to report the following 
information to the executive agency:
(A) Any human rights violations that are known to 
the contractor through information provided to the 
contractor in the course of the contract.
(B) Any religious liberty violations that are known 
to the contractor through information provided to the 
contractor in the course of the contract.
(C) Any risks to United States economic or national 
security identified by the contractor in the course of 
the contract.

SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR FALSE INFORMATION.

(a) Termination, Suspension, and Debarment.--If the head of an 
executive agency determines that a consulting firm described in section 
3(a)(1) 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(a)(1) that, for the purposes of the False Claims Act, knowingly hides 
or misrepresents one or more contracts with covered foreign entities, 
or otherwise violates the False Claims Act, 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.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and 
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 
of Representatives.
(2) Consulting services.--The term ``consulting services'' 
means advisory or assistance services similar to those defined 
in Federal Acquisition Regulation 2.101, but for the purposes 
of this Act includes services provided to covered foreign 
entities, except that the term does not include the provision 
of products or services related to--
(A) compliance with legal, audit, accounting, tax, 
reporting, or other requirements of the laws and 
standards of countries; or
(B) participation in a judicial, legal, or 
equitable dispute resolution proceeding.
(3) Covered foreign entity.--The term ``covered foreign 
entity'' means any of the following:
(A) The Government of the People's Republic of 
China, the Chinese Communist Party, the People's 
Liberation Army, the Ministry of State Security, or 
other security service or intelligence agency of the 
People's Republic of China.
(B) The Government of the Russian Federation or any 
entity sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury 
under Executive Order 13662 titled ``Blocking Property 
of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in 
Ukraine'' (79 Fed. Reg. 16169).
(C) The government of any country if the Secretary 
of State determines that such government has repeatedly 
provided support for acts of international terrorism 
pursuant to any of the following:
(i) Section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 
4318(c)(1)(A)).
(ii) Section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371).
(iii) Section 40 of the Arms Export Control 
Act (22 U.S.C. 2780).
(iv) Any other provision of law.
(D) Any entity included on any of the following 
lists maintained by the Department of Commerce:
(i) The Entity List set forth in Supplement 
No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration 
Regulations.
(ii) The Denied Persons List as described 
in section 764.3(a)(2) of the Export 
Administration Regulations.
(iii) The Unverified List set forth in 
Supplement No. 6 to part 744 of the Export 
Administration Regulations.
(iv) The Military End User List set forth 
in Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of the Export 
Administration Regulations.
(E) Any entity identified by the Secretary of 
Defense pursuant to section 1237(b) of the Strom 
Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 1999 (Public Law 105-261; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note).
(F) Any entity on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-
Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC List) 
maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of 
the Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 
14032 (86 Fed. Reg. 30145; relating to addressing the 
threat from securities investments that finance certain 
companies of the People's Republic of China), or any 
successor order.
(4) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United 
States Code.
(5) False claims act.--The term ``False Claims Act'' means 
sections 3729 through 3733 of title 31, United States Code.
(6) 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, and 541690.

SEC. 6. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING.

No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated for the 
purpose of carrying out this Act.
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