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TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle B--Amendments to General Contracting Authorities, Procedures, and Limitations

P. L. 112-81

House Conference Report 112-329

(a) In General- Chapter 137 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

-`Sec. 2335. Prohibition on collection of political information

`(a) Prohibition on Requiring Submission of Political Information- The head of an agency may not require a contractor to submit political information related to the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier, or any partner, officer, director, or employee of the contractor or subcontractor--

`(1) as part of a solicitation, request for bid, request for proposal, or any other form of communication designed to solicit offers in connection with the award of a contract for procurement of property or services; or

`(2) during the course of contract performance as part of the process associated with modifying a contract or exercising a contract option.

`(b) Scope- The prohibition under this section applies to the procurement of commercial items, the procurement of commercial-off-the-shelf-items, and the non-commercial procurement of supplies, property, services, and manufactured items, irrespective of contract vehicle, including contracts, purchase orders, task or deliver orders under indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts, blanket purchase agreements, and basic ordering agreements.

`(c) Rule of Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed as--

`(1) waiving, superseding, restricting, or limiting the application of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) or preventing Federal regulatory or law enforcement agencies from collecting or receiving information authorized by law; or

`(2) precluding the Defense Contract Audit Agency from accessing and reviewing certain information, including political information, for the purpose of identifying unallowable costs and administering cost principles established pursuant to section 2324 of this title.

`(d) Definitions- In this section:

`(1) CONTRACTOR- The term `contractor' includes contractors, bidders, and offerors, and individuals and legal entities who would reasonably be expected to submit offers or bids for Federal Government contracts.

`(2) POLITICAL INFORMATION- The term `political information' means information relating to political spending, including any payment consisting of a contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication that is made by the contractor, any of its partners, officers, directors or employees, or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries to a candidate or on behalf of a candidate for election for Federal office, to a political committee, to a political party, to a third party entity with the intention or reasonable expectation that it would use the payment to make independent expenditures or electioneering communications, or that is otherwise made with respect to any election for Federal office, party affiliation, and voting history. Each of the terms `contribution', `expenditure', `independent expenditure', `candidate', `election', `electioneering communication', and `Federal office' has the meaning given the term in the Federal Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.).'.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 137 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2334 the following new item:

`2335. Prohibition on collection of political information.'.

The House bill contained a provision (sec. 847) that would prohibit federal agencies from requiring contractors to disclose information on campaign contributions and expenditures as a condition for participating in an acquisition.

The Senate amendment contained a similar provision (sec. 845) that would be applicable only to the Department of Defense.

The House recedes with a clarifying amendment.

H. Rpt 112-88 (pdf) to accompany H. Resolution 276

Senate Report 112-26

The committee recommends a provision that would prohibit the Department of Defense from requiring a contractor to submit political information as a part of a solicitation or at any other point during the performance of a contract. The provision includes exceptions for: (1) the enforcement of regulatory and law enforcement requirements; and (2) audit activities necessary to administer requirements relative to unallowable costs.