Bogus Bonus Ban Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2145 To prohibit the payment of bonuses to contractors for unsatisfactory performance. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 17, 2019 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To prohibit the payment of bonuses to contractors for unsatisfactory performance. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bogus Bonus Ban Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. LINKING OF AWARD AND INCENTIVE FEES TO CON- 6 TRACT OUTCOMES. 7 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after the 8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of- 9 fice of Management and Budget, in coordination with the 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2145.IS S2145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2145 IS heads of Federal departments and agencies, shall issue 1 guidance, with detailed implementation instructions (in- 2 cluding definitions), on the appropriate use of award and 3 incentive fees in department or agency programs. 4 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidance under subsection (a) 5 shall— 6 (1) ensure that all new contracts using award 7 fees link such fees to outcomes (which shall be de- 8 fined in terms of program cost, schedule, and per- 9 formance); 10 (2) establish standards for identifying the ap- 11 propriate level of officials authorized to approve the 12 use of award and incentive fees in new contracts; 13 (3) provide guidance on the circumstances in 14 which contractor performance may be judged to be 15 excellent or superior and the percentage of the avail- 16 able award fee which contractors should be paid for 17 such performance; 18 (4) establish standards for determining the per- 19 centage of the available award fee, if any, which con- 20 tractors should be paid for performance that is 21 judged to be acceptable, average, expected, good, or 22 satisfactory; 23 (5) ensure that no award fee may be paid for 24 contractor performance that is judged to be below 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2145.IS S2145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2145 IS satisfactory performance or performance that does 1 not meet the basic requirements of the contract; 2 (6) provide specific direction on the cir- 3 cumstances, if any, in which it may be appropriate 4 to roll over award fees that are not earned in one 5 award fee period to a subsequent award fee period 6 or periods; 7 (7) ensure that the Department or agency— 8 (A) collects relevant data on award and in- 9 centive fees paid to contractors and provides for 10 the inclusion of such information, including a 11 listing of each award and incentive fee so paid, 12 on USAspending.gov, the searchable website of 13 government spending established pursuant to 14 section 2(b) of the Federal Funding Account- 15 ability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Public 16 Law 109–206; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note); and 17 (B) has mechanisms in place to evaluate 18 such data on a regular basis; and 19 (8) include performance measures to evaluate 20 the effectiveness of award and incentive fees as a 21 tool for improving contractor performance and 22 achieving desired program outcomes. 23 (c) RETURN OF UNEARNED BONUSES.—Any funds 24 intended to be awarded as incentive fees that are not paid 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2145.IS S2145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2145 IS due to the inability of a contractor to meet the criteria 1 established by this section shall be returned to the Treas- 2 ury of the United States. 3 (d) INCLUSION OF AWARD FEE AS AWARD TYPE FIL- 4 TER ON USASPENDING.GOV.—The Secretary of the Treas- 5 ury shall include ‘‘award fee’’ as a filter on 6 USAspending.gov. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Jul 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2145.IS S2145 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS