Ernst’s bill seeks increased oversight of national security consulting firms

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has sponsored bipartisan legislation to streamline federal government policies for identifying potential conflicts of interest within consulting firms or government contractors, making such conflicts a reason to disqualify them from being awarded national security contracts.

“The U.S. is playing a dangerous game; it’s past time we put safeguards in place to ensure no firms hired by the federal government are working simultaneously to support the agenda of our adversaries like China and Russia,” Sen. Ernst said on Wednesday.

The Combating Obstructive National Security Underreporting of Legitimate Threats (CONSULT) Act, S. 4516, which Sen. Ernst introduced with lead original cosponsor U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), would require the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to develop government-wide procurement policy and guidance to mitigate organizational conflict of interests related to national security and foreign policy, according to the congressional record bill summary.

“America’s adversaries, like China and Russia, are aggressively working against our national security interests; so why then would we allow government contractors closely tied to these adversaries to advise our military and Pentagon officials?” said Sen. Ernst. “At the very least, this is a clear conflict of interest, but more seriously, it could pose a threat to our national security.”

If enacted, S. 4516 also would require consulting firms to disclose any potential organizational conflict of interest with certain entities, such as beneficial ownership, active contracts, contracts held within the last five years, and any other relevant information with foreign adversarial entities or governments, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Ernst’s office.

Additionally, the measure would allow for such conflicts of interest to be grounds for denial of a contract, or for the suspension and debarment of a contractor, the summary says, adding that the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council would be required to update federal acquisition regulations for implementation.

Countries in which doing business qualifies as a conflict of interest include: China or any Chinese state-owned enterprise; Russia or any Russian state-owned entity; any state sponsor of terrorism (Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba); and other countries that have been engaged in a project that has been declared a crime against humanity by the Secretary of State, according to the summary.

And if a firm discloses that it has previously, or is actively engaged in business with these countries, that firm could be denied a new contract, says the summary, which noted that if firms fail to disclose these relationships, they could be suspended from a current job or banned from federal contracting altogether.

The CONSULT Act is supported by the Project on Government Oversight, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Transparency International.