Last week, Senator Dorgan introduced the Honest Leadership and Accountability in Contracting Act (S-60), legislation that provides a range of remedies and preventive measures to stop the runaway contracting and fraud we have seen under the Republicans. It will also reinstate the debarment procedure that was the subject of an executive order in the last days of the Clinton administration - and quickly rescinded by Bush.

That Ex. Order would have debarred federal contractors who violated federal environmental, labor and employment, antitrust, consumer protection, and tax laws. A GAO report on debarment for these reasons may be found here.

Sen. Dorgan's announcement of the proposed legislation may be found here.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and 22 Senate colleagues introduced legislation Thursday that would make sweeping reforms in federal contracting rules.

The legislation is aimed at stopping what Dorgan called "outrageous rip-offs of the American taxpayer" including huge no bid contracts, little if any accountability for implementation of those contracts.

Late last month the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction released a report detailing tens of millions of dollars in wasteful spending on Iraq reconstruction projects. Over the past two years, Dorgan, as Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, conducted more than a dozen oversight hearings that exposed hundreds of millions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

Key points of the legislation are as follows:

• Punishment for war profiteers: imposes penalties of up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million for war profiteering.

• Crackdown on contract cheaters: restores a rule which prohibits awarding federal contracts to companies that exhibit a pattern of breaking the law in performance of government contracts. The previous rule, put in place by the Clinton Administration, was dropped by Bush Administration upon taking office.

• Real contract competition: prohibits awarding huge, sole-source, monopoly contracts, like the ones Halliburton has routinely been awarded in Iraq, requiring that multiple companies be awarded large contracts to ensure real price competition.

• End cronyism in key government positions: stops unqualified political appointees like Michael Brown and David Safavian from holding government positions relating to contracting and public safety. The bill requires that nominees for such posts have relevant professional qualifications for the job.

"American taxpayers have a right to expect that their tax dollars are spent wisely," Dorgan said. "Too often officials they should have been able to count on have been asleep at the switch. Our bill not only provides a much needed wake-up call, it puts teeth behind the effort to protect tax payers from waste, fraud and abuse."

OMB Watch provides background and links for why this bill is needed - as if we didn't know. It states:

Dorgan's bill (S. 606) would attempt to increase contractor accountability through several mechanisms. First, Dorgan proposes to use increased competition for federal contract dollars to minimize waste and overspending. Provisions in the bill would require that large "umbrella" contracts valued over $100 million to be awarded jointly to at least two companies that would then compete for delivery orders worth more than $1 million. This approach could counter the troubling trend of increasing concentration of federal contract dollars within a small number of companies.

S. 606 would also hold contractors responsible for prior performance and activities. Scofflaw companies that have histories of violating labor, environmental, health and safety, and other laws would be prohibited from receiving federal contracts. Additionally, the bill would require that a website be established that provides information on contractors' compliance with laws, fines or misconduct charges. President Clinton attempted to put such contractor responsibility procedures in place through an administrative rule that President Bush repealed almost immediately upon taking office.

Links to the text of the bill and related information may be found here.

And in related news. Just a week, ago, unbossed reported on the problem of a lack of background checks for contractors, even those doing sensitive work. link here.

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• dorgan