Sec. 819. Preventing conflicts of interest for Department of Defense consultants

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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation— to require any entity that provides the services described in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 5416, prior to entering into the Department of Defense contract, to certify that— neither the entity nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates hold a contract with one or more covered foreign entities; or the entity maintains a Conflict of Interest Mitigation Surveillance Plan described under subsection

(b)that is auditable by contract oversight entities; and to restrict Department of Defense contracts from being awarded to an entity that provides the services described under the NAICS code 5416, if the entity or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates are determined, based on the self-certification required under paragraph

(1)or other information, to be a contractor of, or otherwise providing services to, a covered foreign entity unless such contractor maintains an enforceable Conflict of Interest Mitigation Surveillance Plan. Contractors that are unable to certify under subsection (a)(1)(A) that neither they nor any of their subsidiaries or affiliates hold a contract with one or more covered foreign entities shall maintain a Conflict of Interest Mitigation Surveillance Plan that is updated annually and shall be provided to applicable contract oversight entities upon request. The plan shall include— identification of the contracts with the covered foreign entity (or entities) including the specific entity, the dollar value of the contract, and the specific personnel working on the contract; mitigation measures being taken to prevent conflicts of interest (corporately as well as for individuals working on the contract) that might arise by also supporting Department of Defense contracts; and notification procedures to the contract oversight entities within 15 days of determining an unmitigated conflict of interest has arisen. The Secretary of Defense, or designee, shall have the authority to waive conflicts of interest restrictions under subsection

(a)on a case-by-case basis as may be necessary to continue contracting for certain national security requirements. The Secretary of Defense may not delegate such authority to an official below the level of a Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed official. Not later than 30 days after issuing a waiver under subsection

(c)of this section, the Secretary of Defense shall provide a written notification to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives regarding the use of such waiver authority. The notification shall include— the specific justification for providing the waiver; the covered foreign entity with which the waiver recipient is working which gives rise to the conflict of interest; the number of bidders on a contract on which the waiver was required; the number of bidders on a contract for which a waiver would not have been required to have been issued; and the total dollar value of the contract. In this section: The term covered foreign entity means any of the following: The Government of the People’s Republic of China, any Chinese state-owned entity, or other entity under the ownership, or control, directly or indirectly, of the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party that is engaged in one or more national security industries. The Government of the Russian Federation, any Russian state-owned entity, or any entity sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury under Executive Order 13662 titled Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine (79 Fed. Reg. 16169). 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— section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 ( 50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A) ); section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2371 ); section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act ( 22 U.S.C. 2780 ); or any other provision of law. Any entity included on any of the following lists maintained by the Department of Commerce: The Entity List set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations. The Denied Persons List as described in section 764.3(a)(2) of the Export Administration Regulations. The Unverified List set forth in Supplement No. 6 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations. The Military End User List set forth in Supplement No. 7 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations. The term contract oversight entities means any of the following: The contracting officer. The contracting officer representative. The Defense Contract Management Agency. The Defense Contract Audit Agency. The Office of Inspector General

(OIG)of the Department of Defense or any subcomponent of OIG. The Government Accountability Office.

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