Senate Homeland Clears Bill to Avoid Conflicts of Interest in Federal Contracting

Source: NEXTGOV

A hearing the committee held leading up to the bill’s markup focused on a shortage of procurement officials in the federal workforce, which an industry witness said could be addressed if it weren’t for inflexible ethics rules.

A bill that would require federal contractors to, among other things, continually disclose potential conflicts of interest passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“Federal contractors like McKinsey have acted against the best interest of our country, communities and citizens, said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. “I'm pleased to see that we were able to move forward with Senate bill 3905, the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisitions Act, which I co-sponsored.” The bill was introduced by Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich.

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