Bogus Bonus Ban Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3185 To prohibit the payment of bonuses to contractors for unsatisfactory performance. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 14, 2020 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. PETERS, 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 2020’’. 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 01:23 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3185.IS S3185 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3185 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 criteria for identifying the appro- 11 priate level of officials authorized to approve the use 12 of award and incentive fees in new contracts; 13 (3) describe the circumstances in which con- 14 tractor performance may be judged to be excellent or 15 superior and the percentage of the available award 16 fee which contractors should be paid for such per- 17 formance; 18 (4) establish criteria 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 01:23 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3185.IS S3185 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3185 IS satisfactory performance or performance that does 1 not meet the basic requirements of the contract; 2 (6) prohibit roll over award fees that are not 3 earned in one award fee period to a subsequent 4 award fee period or periods; 5 (7) ensure that Departments and agencies, not 6 later than 30 days after completion of the require- 7 ment set forth in subsection (d)— 8 (A) collect relevant data on award and in- 9 centive fees paid to contractors and provide 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) have mechanisms in place to evaluate 18 such data on a regular basis; and 19 (8) provide for the development of performance 20 measures to evaluate the effectiveness of award and 21 incentive fees as a tool for improving contractor per- 22 formance and 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 01:23 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3185.IS S3185 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3185 IS due to the inability of a contractor to meet the criteria 1 established by this section shall be deobligated and made 2 available for purposes for which the funds are otherwise 3 allowable. 4 (d) INCLUSION OF AWARD FEE AS AWARD TYPE FIL- 5 TER ON USASPENDING.GOV.—The Secretary of the Treas- 6 ury shall include ‘‘award fee’’ as a filter on 7 USAspending.gov. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Jan 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3185.IS S3185 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS