Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2050 To promote ethics and prevent corruption in Department of Defense contracting and other activities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 20, 2023 Ms. WARREN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To promote ethics and prevent corruption in Department of Defense contracting and other activities, and for other purposes. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act 5 of 2023’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—REVOLVING DOOR AND CONTRACTOR INFLUENCE VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 2050 IS Sec. 101. Heightened revolving door requirements. Sec. 102. Requirements for defense contractors relating to certain former De- partment of Defense officials and lobbying activities. Sec. 103. Ban on hiring contracting officials enforceable on certain contracts. Sec. 104. Ban on hiring senior officials by giant defense contractors. Sec. 105. Modification of prohibition on lobbying activities with respect to the Department of Defense by certain officers of the Armed Forces and civilian employees of the Department of Defense following separation from military service or employment with the de- partment. Sec. 106. Enhancement of recusal for conflicts of personal interest require- ments for Department of Defense officers and employees. Sec. 107. Prohibition on ownership or trading of stocks in certain companies by Department of Defense officers and employees. TITLE II—LIMITING FOREIGN INFLUENCE Sec. 201. Ban on senior national security officials advising foreign govern- ments. Sec. 202. Ban on former military and civilian intelligence officers from foreign employment. TITLE III—TRANSPARENCY Sec. 301. Affirmative contractor record disclosures. Sec. 302. Publication of contractor evaluation ratings. Sec. 303. Ownership of information. Sec. 304. Financial disclosure by large contractors. Sec. 305. Availability on the internet of certain information about officers serv- ing in general or flag officer grades. TITLE I—REVOLVING DOOR AND 1 CONTRACTOR INFLUENCE 2 SEC. 101. HEIGHTENED REVOLVING DOOR REQUIREMENTS. 3 Section 847 of the National Defense Authorization 4 Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110–181; 10 U.S.C. 5 1701 note) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘within two 7 years of leaving service’’ and inserting ‘‘within four 8 years of leaving service’’; and 9 (2) in subsection (b)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 2050 IS (A) by striking ‘‘REQUIREMENT.—Each re- 1 quest’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘REQUIRE- 2 MENT.— 3 ‘‘(1) DATABASE.—Each request’’; 4 (B) by striking ‘‘retained by the Depart- 5 ment of Defense in a central database or repos- 6 itory maintained by the General Counsel of the 7 Department for not less than five years’’ and 8 inserting ‘‘retained by the Department of De- 9 fense in a central database or repository main- 10 tained by the Standards of Conduct Office of 11 the Department for not less than 10 years’’; 12 (C) by inserting ‘‘and shall be posted on a 13 publicly available internet website of the Gen- 14 eral Counsel Standards of Conduct Office’’ 15 after ‘‘opinion was provided’’; and 16 (D) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 17 following new paragraph: 18 ‘‘(2) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW.—The In- 19 spector General of the Department of Defense shall 20 conduct periodic reviews not less than biannually to 21 ensure that written opinions are being requested, 22 provided, and retained in accordance with the re- 23 quirements of this section, as well as any related 24 matters.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 2050 IS SEC. 102. REQUIREMENTS FOR DEFENSE CONTRACTORS 1 RELATING TO CERTAIN FORMER DEPART- 2 MENT OF DEFENSE OFFICIALS AND LOB- 3 BYING ACTIVITIES. 4 (a) REQUIREMENTS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 141 of title 10, 6 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 7 end the following new section: 8 ‘‘§ 2410t. Defense contractors report: requirements 9 concerning former Department of De- 10 fense officials and lobbying activities 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each contract for the procure- 12 ment of goods or services in excess of $10,000,000, other 13 than a contract for the procurement of office supplies or 14 food and beverage (vending) services, that is entered into 15 by the Department of Defense shall include a provision 16 under which the contractor agrees to submit to the Sec- 17 retary of Defense, not later than April 1 of each year such 18 contract is in effect, a written report setting forth the in- 19 formation required by subsection (b). The Secretary of 20 Defense shall make these reports publicly available on a 21 government website not later than July 1 of each year 22 such contract is in effect. 23 ‘‘(b) REPORT INFORMATION.—Except as provided in 24 subsection (c), a report by a contractor under subsection 25 (a) shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 2050 IS ‘‘(1) list the name of each person who— 1 ‘‘(A) is a former officer or employee of the 2 Department of Defense or a former or retired 3 member of the armed forces who served— 4 ‘‘(i) in an Executive Schedule position 5 under subchapter II of chapter 53 of title 6 5; 7 ‘‘(ii) in a position in the Senior Exec- 8 utive Service under subchapter VIII of 9 chapter 53 of title 5; 10 ‘‘(iii) in a position compensated at a 11 rate of pay for grade O–6 or above under 12 section 201 of title 37; or 13 ‘‘(iv) as a program manager, deputy 14 program manager, procuring contracting 15 officer, administrative contracting officer, 16 source selection authority, member of the 17 source selection evaluation board, or chief 18 of a financial or technical evaluation team 19 for a contract with a value in excess of 20 $10,000,000; and 21 ‘‘(B) during the preceding calendar year 22 was provided compensation by the contractor, if 23 such compensation was first provided by the 24 contractor not more than four years after such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 2050 IS officer, employee, or member left service in the 1 Department of Defense; 2 ‘‘(2) in the case of each person listed under 3 subparagraph (A)— 4 ‘‘(A) identify the agency in which such per- 5 son was employed or served on active duty dur- 6 ing the last two years of such person’s service 7 with the Department of Defense; 8 ‘‘(B) state such person’s job title and iden- 9 tify each major defense system, contract, modi- 10 fication, subcontract, task order, and delivery 11 order in excess of $10,000,000, if any, on which 12 such person performed any work with the De- 13 partment of Defense during the last two years 14 of such person’s service with the Department; 15 and 16 ‘‘(C) state such person’s current job title 17 with the contractor and identify each major de- 18 fense system, contract, modification, sub- 19 contract, task order, and delivery order in ex- 20 cess of $10,000,000, on which such person has 21 performed any work on behalf of the contractor; 22 and 23 ‘‘(3) if the contractor is a client, include— 24 ‘‘(A) a statement that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 2050 IS ‘‘(i) lists each specific issue for which 1 the contractor, any employee of the con- 2 tractor, or any lobbyist paid by the con- 3 tractor engaged in lobbying activities with 4 the Department of Defense; 5 ‘‘(ii) specifies the Federal rule or reg- 6 ulation, Executive order, or other program, 7 policy, contract, or position of the Depart- 8 ment of Defense to which the lobbying ac- 9 tivities described in clause (i) related; 10 ‘‘(iii) lists each lobbying activity relat- 11 ing to the Department of Defense that the 12 contractor, any employee of the contractor, 13 or any lobbyist paid by the contractor has 14 engaged in on behalf of the contractor, in- 15 cluding— 16 ‘‘(I) each document prepared by 17 the contractor, any employee of the 18 contractor, or any lobbyist paid by the 19 contractor that was submitted to an 20 officer or employee of the Department 21 of Defense by the lobbyist; 22 ‘‘(II) each meeting that was a 23 lobbying contact with an officer or 24 employee of the Department of De- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 2050 IS fense, including the subject of the 1 meeting, the date of the meeting, and 2 the name and position of each indi- 3 vidual who attended the meeting; 4 ‘‘(III) each phone call made to an 5 officer or employee of the Department 6 of Defense that was a lobbying con- 7 tact, including the subject of the 8 phone call, the date of the phone call, 9 and the name and position of each in- 10 dividual who was on the phone call; 11 and 12 ‘‘(IV) each electronic communica- 13 tion (including emails, text messages, 14 and other forms of electronic commu- 15 nication) sent to an officer or em- 16 ployee of the Department of Defense 17 that was a lobbying contact, including 18 the subject of the electronic commu- 19 nication, the date of the electronic 20 communication, and the name and po- 21 sition of each individual who received 22 the electronic communication; 23 ‘‘(iv) lists the name of each employee 24 of the contractor who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 2050 IS ‘‘(I) did not participate in a lob- 1 bying contact with an officer or em- 2 ployee of the Department of Defense; 3 and 4 ‘‘(II) engaged in lobbying activi- 5 ties in support of a lobbying contact 6 with an officer or employee of the De- 7 partment of Defense; and 8 ‘‘(v) describes the lobbying activities 9 referred to in clause (iv)(II); and 10 ‘‘(B) a copy of any document transmitted 11 to an officer or employee of the Department of 12 Defense in the course of the lobbying activities 13 described in subparagraph (A)(iv)(II). 14 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In subsection (b)(3), the terms 15 ‘client’, ‘lobbying activities’, ‘lobbying contact’, and ‘lob- 16 byist’ have the meanings given the terms in section 3 of 17 the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602).’’. 18 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 19 tions at the beginning of chapter 141 of such title 20 is amended by adding at the end the following new 21 item: 22 ‘‘Sec. 2410t. Defense contractors report: requirements concerning former De- partment of Defense officials and lobbying activities.’’. (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 23 by paragraphs (1) and (2) shall take effect on the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 2050 IS date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply 1 with respect to contracts entered into on or after 2 that date. 3 (b) FUTURE TRANSFER.— 4 (1) TRANSFER AND REDESIGNATION.—Section 5 2410t of title 10, United States Code, as added by 6 subsection (a), is transferred to chapter 363, as 7 added by section 1862(b) of the William M. (Mac) 8 Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for 9 Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116–283), and redes- 10 ignated as section 4661. 11 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 12 (A) TARGET CHAPTER TABLE OF SEC- 13 TIONS.—The table of sections at the beginning 14 of chapter 363 of title 10, United States Code, 15 as added by section 1862(b) of the William M. 16 (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authoriza- 17 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 18 116–283), is amended by inserting after the 19 item relating to section 4660 the following: 20 ‘‘Sec. 4661. Defense contractors report: requirements concerning former De- partment of Defense officials and lobbying activities.’’. (B) ORIGIN CHAPTER TABLE OF SEC- 21 TIONS.—The table of sections at the beginning 22 of chapter 141 of title 10, United States Code, 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 2050 IS is amended by striking the item relating to sec- 1 tion 2410t. 2 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 3 by this subsection shall take effect on January 1, 4 2024. 5 (4) REFERENCES; SAVINGS PROVISIONS; RULE 6 OF CONSTRUCTION.—Sections 1883 through 1885 of 7 the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense 8 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 9 116–283) shall apply with respect to the amend- 10 ments made under this subsection as if such amend- 11 ments were made under title XVIII of such Act. 12 SEC. 103. BAN ON HIRING CONTRACTING OFFICIALS EN- 13 FORCEABLE ON CERTAIN CONTRACTS. 14 (a) PROHIBITION.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any contract for the pro- 16 curement of goods or services, other than a contract 17 for the procurement of commercial products or serv- 18 ices, with a value of excess of $10,000,000 shall in- 19 clude a contract clause prohibiting the contractor 20 from providing compensation to a former Depart- 21 ment of Defense official described in paragraph (2) 22 within four years after such former official leaves 23 service in the Department of Defense. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:13 Jul 14, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 2050 IS (2) COVERED DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFI- 1 CIAL.—An official or former official of the Depart- 2 ment of Defense is covered by the requirements of 3 this section if such official or former official is a 4 former officer or employee of the Department of De- 5 fense or a former or retired member of the Armed 6 Forces who served as a program manager, deputy 7 program manager, procuring contracting officer, ad- 8 ministrative contracting officer, source select [Text truncated for display. 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