Subcommittee pushes for contractor accountability measures

The House Oversight and Reform Government Management Subcommittee approved three bills Tuesday aimed at increasing federal contractor accountability that will likely to be passed by the full committee.

In unanimous votes, the panel passed measures requiring creation of a database on federal contractor performance and misconduct, barring contractors with significant tax debts from receiving large government contracts and grants, and requiring companies that rely on federal contracts to disclose the names and salaries of their top officers.

All three proposals have generated criticism from trade groups and some Republicans. They are supported by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and other committee Democrats, backers said.

Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the first measure would require the General Services Administration to create a list of completed criminal, civil and administrative proceedings involving federal contractors in the last five years.

The bill would not change rules that govern how federal contract officers determine if contractors are reliable. But it is designed to give officers more information before awarding contracts.

At hearings on the bill, Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., raised concerns that it would allow unsubstantiated allegations against contractors to be included in the database without due process.

Government Management Subcommittee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., said he hoped opponents would be satisfied by an amendment that limits information in the database to completed proceedings and allows contractors to enter their views on any notations.

The second measure would require the Office of Management and Budget to create a process to block companies that failed to file tax returns or were seriously delinquent on tax debts from receiving large contracts or grants. The measure does not specify the size of contracts or grants that debtors would be unable to receive. Introduced by Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., the bill would make permanent a provision in the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill.

The third measure would mandate that companies that earn 80 percent of annual gross revenue and more than $5 million a year from government contracts publicly disclose to a federal contracting officer the names and salaries of their senior officials.

The measure was introduced by Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., after an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in which Blackwater Worldwide CEO Erik Prince, whose company relies on federal contracts to protect U.S. officials overseas, refused to disclose his compensation.

The bill likely will face opposition as it advances. At a hearing last month, Paul Denett, administrator of OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said allowing public access to contractors' salary information might dissuade many companies from competing for federal contracts.