he House Oversight and Government Reform committee has passed a bill to tighten government contracting rules.
Introduced by committee chair Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the Accountability in Contracting Act would limit the use of no-bid contracts by limiting their duration to eight months and requiring large federal agencies to develop and implement a plan to promote competition and minimize the use of no-bid and cost-plus contracts. Cost-plus contacts, the committee said, give contractors no incentive to keep costs down.
Once an agency awards a no-bid contract, the bill would require them to prepare a "justification and approval" document explaining the decision and make it public within 14 days.
The bill would also require agencies to notify Congress of contractor overcharges in excess of $1 million, and devote at least an additional one percent of procurement budgets to contract oversight, planning, and administration.
It would increase from one to two years the amount of time contracting officials are barred from taking jobs with firms they have supervised as a government employee.
Further, it would extend the ban to lobbying and consulting for government contractors, prohibit contracting officials from negotiating employment for their relatives, and establish a two-year cooling off period before procurement officials can award or oversee contracts involving a former employer.
