Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act

Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act

This act addresses conflicts of interest in federal acquisitions.

Specifically, the act directs the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council to revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide and update

• definitions related to specific types of organizational conflicts of interest;
• definitions, guidance, and illustrative examples related to relationships of contractors with public, private, domestic, and foreign entities that may cause contract support to be subject to potential organizational conflicts; and
• illustrative examples of situations related to the potential organizational conflicts identified.

Further, the council must revise the FAR to

• provide executive agencies with solicitation provisions and contract clauses to avoid or mitigate organizational conflicts, for agency use as needed, that require contractors to disclose information relevant to potential organizational conflicts and limit future contracting with respect to potential conflicts with the work to be performed under awarded contracts;
• allow agencies to tailor such solicitation provisions and contract clauses as necessary to address risks associated with conflicts of interest and other considerations that may be unique to the agency;
• require agencies to establish or update agency conflict of interest procedures to implement the revisions to the FAR made under this act and periodically assess and update such procedures as needed to address agency-specific conflict issues; and
• update FAR procedures to permit contracting officers to take into consideration professional standards and procedures to prevent organizational conflicts of interest to which an offeror or contractor is subject.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov