S. 4685

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4685 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4685

To prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with 
consultancies providing services to certain foreign entities, and for 
other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 4, 2026

Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with 
consultancies providing services to certain foreign entities, 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 ``Ending Double Dealing Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTING WITH CERTAIN CONSULTANCIES.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The reliance by the Department of Defense on 
consultants for mission support services can create potential 
organizational conflicts of interest related to national 
security matters due to competing interests as a result of 
business relationships with foreign adversarial nations and 
entities.
(2) It is imperative for consultants providing mission 
support services to the Department of Defense related to 
national security matters and foreign policy interests to not 
be providing mission support services to foreign adversaries 
regarding efforts counter to the national security and foreign 
policy interests of the United States.
(3) Protecting against organizational conflicts of interest 
related to foreign adversarial nations and entities providing 
Federal mission support services is essential to the national 
security and foreign policy interests of the United States.
(b) Prohibition Related to Certain Contracts or Grants.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary may not after the date of 
the enactment of this Act enter into, renew, extend a contract 
with, award a grant to, enter into an other transactional 
agreement with, or otherwise effectuate any legal instrument 
resulting in any financial benefit accruing to, a covered 
consultancy.
(2) Disclosure.--Any individual or entity that submits an 
offer or bid to provide consulting services to the Department 
of Defense shall disclose in such offer or bid any information 
relevant to the individual or entity with respect to the 
prohibition under paragraph (1), including--
(A) whether the individual or entity has entered 
into a contract with, or received grants or other 
financial awards from, a covered entity in the five 
years prior to submitting the offer or bid; and
(B) at the time the contract to provide consulting 
services to the Department will be entered into, 
whether--
(i) any contract entered into by the 
individual or entity with a covered entity will 
still be in effect; or
(ii) the individual or entity will be 
receiving funds from, or have any unobligated 
or unexpended funds received under, any grant 
or other financial award from a covered entity.
(3) Penalties.--
(A) In general.--If the Secretary determines that a 
contractor of the Department failed to make the 
disclosure required by paragraph (2), the Secretary 
shall--
(i) terminate the applicable contract for 
cause; and
(ii) initiate a suspension and debarment 
proceeding with respect to the contractor.
(B) Maximum length of debarment.--The maximum 
length of a debarment of a contractor pursuant to this 
paragraph shall be a period of 5 years.
(c) Certification.--
(1) In general.--After a determination by the Secretary 
that a company is a covered consultancy, such company may 
submit to the Secretary a written and signed certification 
that--
(A) the consultancy no longer is--
(i) performing under a contract with a 
covered entity;
(ii) carrying out activities under a grant 
received from a covered entity; or
(iii) receiving funds, or has any 
unobligated or unexpended funds received, from 
a covered entity; and
(B) will not enter into, accept, or pursue a 
contract with a covered entity or a grant or other 
financial award from a covered entity--
(i) during the term of a contract with the 
Department of Defense; or
(ii) while receiving funds from the 
Department of Defense, or obligating or 
expending any such funds.
(2) Status change.--Upon the approval by the Secretary of a 
certification submitted under paragraph (1), a company is 
deemed to not be a covered consultancy for the purposes of this 
section until the expiration of the certification under 
paragraph (3).
(3) Expiration.--A certification submitted by a company 
under paragraph (1) shall expire on the earlier of the date on 
which the company, after submitting such certification, enters 
into, extends, renews, or performs under a contract with a 
covered entity for consulting services.
(d) Policies and Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue the following 
policies and practices:
(1) Policies to implement the prohibition under subsection 
(b)(1).
(2) Best practices for consultancies to avoid becoming 
covered consultancies under this section and for covered 
consultancies to end their status as such.
(3) A policy articulating the exact provisions and terms to 
be included in solicitations, contracts, and grants of the 
Department of Defense pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of 
subsection (b).
(e) Revision of Department of Defense Acquisition Regulation.--Not 
later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 
Supplement to implement this section.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Consulting services.--The term ``consulting services'' 
has the meaning given the term ``advisory and assistance 
services'' in section 2.101 of the Federal Acquisition 
Regulation, except that--
(A) the term does not include the services 
described in paragraph (3) of such section; and
(B) each instance of the term ``Federal'' is 
replaced with ``client''.
(2) Contract employee.--The term ``contract employee'' 
means--
(A) an employee of a contractor; or
(B) in the case of a contractor who is an 
individual who directly enters into a contract with the 
Federal Government, that individual.
(3) Contractor.--The term ``contractor'' has the meaning 
given the term in section 7101 of title 41, United States Code.
(4) Covered consultancy.--The term ``covered consultancy'' 
means a company that, itself or any subsidiary or affiliate 
thereof, in the later of the five-year period preceding the 
date of the relevant requirement or the effective date of the 
relevant requirement--
(A) failed to disclose information to the Secretary 
related to any activities involving a covered entity as 
required by any law, regulation, or contract term, or 
terms of other agreements;
(B) was found to have submitted false or misleading 
information to any Federal agency in any Federal 
proceeding; or
(C) was found to have failed to disclose an actual 
or potential conflict of interest as required by any 
law, regulation, or contract term to any Federal agency 
or in any Federal proceeding.
(5) Covered entity.--The term ``covered entity'' means any 
of the following:
(A) The Government of the People's Republic of 
China.
(B) The Chinese Communist Party.
(C) The People's Liberation Army, the Ministry of 
State Security, or any security service or intelligence 
agency of the People's Republic of China.
(D) 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.
(E) Any Chinese military company 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 owned (25 percent or more) or 
controlled, directly or indirectly, by the Government 
of the People's Republic of China or the Chinese 
Communist Party, including through board 
representation, voting rights, contractual 
arrangements, or other means of effective control, that 
is engaged in one or more national security industries.
(G) The Government of the Russian Federation, any 
entity owned (25 percent or more) or controlled, 
directly or indirectly by the Russian Federation, or 
any entity sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury.
(H) The government or any State-owned entity of any 
country if the Secretary of State determines that such 
government has repeatedly provided support for acts of 
international terrorism pursuant to--
(i) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export 
Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 
4813(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); or
(iv) any other provision of law.
(I) 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.
(J) The Military End User List set forth in 
Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of the Export 
Administration Regulations.
(K) A foreign adversary, as that term is defined in 
this subsection.
(L) An individual or entity included on any 
sanctions list administered by the Office of Foreign 
Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury or of 
the Department of Justice, including any successor 
list.
(6) Export administration regulations.--The term ``Export 
Administration Regulations'' means the regulations set forth in 
subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal 
Regulations.
(7) Foreign adversary.--The term ``foreign adversary'' 
means the following:
(A) The Democratic People's Republic of North 
Korea.
(B) The People's Republic of China.
(C) The Russian Federation.
(D) The Islamic Republic of Iran.
(E) The Republic of Cuba.
(F) Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro (the 
Maduro Regime).
(8) National security industry.--The term ``national 
security industry'' means--
(A) a military-related industry;
(B) semiconductor production;
(C) researching or commercializing quantum 
computing;
(D) developing artificial intelligence products or 
services;
(E) the biotechnology industry;
(F) the cybersecurity industry;
(G) the mining, processing, or refining of critical 
minerals (as such term is defined in section 7002(a) of 
the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a))) for use by 
a covered entity; or
(H) other emerging technologies (as that term is 
defined in section 6701 of the Intelligence 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (division F of 
Public Law 117-263; 50 U.S.C. 3024 note)).
(9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
of Defense.
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