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Title II — Contracting and other matters

S. 1386 · 113th Congress · Jul 30, 2013 · Lineage

II Contracting and other matters

Sec. 201 Local guard contracts abroad under diplomatic security program

(a)
In general— Section 136(c)(3) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (22 U.S.C. 4864(c)(3)) is amended to read as follows:

“(3) in evaluating proposals for such contracts, award contracts to technically acceptable firms offering the lowest evaluated price, except that—

“(A) the Secretary may award contracts on the basis of best value (as determined by a cost-technical tradeoff analysis); and

“(B) proposals received from United States persons and qualified United States joint venture persons shall be evaluated by reducing the bid price by 10 percent;”

(b)
Report— Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report that includes—
(1)
an explanation of the implementation of paragraph (3) of section 136(c) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991, as amended by subsection (a); and
(2)
for each instance in which an award is made pursuant to subparagraph (A) of such paragraph, as so amended, a written justification and approval, providing the basis for such award and an explanation of the inability to satisfy the needs of the Department of State by technically acceptable, lowest price evaluation award.

Sec. 202 Disciplinary action resulting from unsatisfactory leadership in relation to a security incident

Section 304(c) of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4834 (c)) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and moving such subparagraphs, as so redesignated, 2 ems to the right;
(2)
by striking “recommendations” and inserting the following: “recommendations.—

“(1) In general—Whenever”

(3)
by inserting at the end the following new paragraph:

“(2) Certain security incidents—Unsatisfactory leadership by a senior official with respect to a security incident involving loss of life, serious injury, or significant destruction of property at or related to a United States Government mission abroad may be grounds for disciplinary action. If a Board finds reasonable cause to believe that a senior official provided such unsatisfactory leadership, the Board may recommend disciplinary action subject to the procedures in paragraph (1).”

Sec. 203 Management and staff accountability

(a)
Authority of Secretary of State— Nothing in this Act or any other provision of law shall be construed to prevent the Secretary of State from using all authorities invested in the office of Secretary to take personnel action against any employee or official of the Department of State that the Secretary determines has breached the duty of that individual or has engaged in misconduct or unsatisfactorily performed the duties of employment of that individual, and such misconduct or unsatisfactory performance has significantly contributed to the serious injury, loss of life, or significant destruction of property, or a serious breach of security, even if such action is the subject of an Accountability Review Board's examination under section 304(a) of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4834(a)).
(b)
Accountability— Section 304 of the Diplomatic Security Act (22 U.S.C. 4834) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (c), by inserting after “breached the duty of that individual” the following: “or has engaged in misconduct or unsatisfactorily performed the duties of employment of that individual, and such misconduct or unsatisfactory performance has significantly contributed to the serious injury, loss of life, or significant destruction of property, or the serious breach of security that is the subject of the Board's examination as described in subsection (a),”;
(2)
by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
(3)
by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection:

“(d) Management accountability—Whenever a Board determines that an individual has engaged in any conduct addressed in subsection (c), the Board shall evaluate the level and effectiveness of management and oversight conducted by employees or officials in the management chain of such individual.”

Sec. 204 Security enhancements for soft targets

Section 29 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2701) is amended in the third sentence by inserting “physical security enhancements and” after “Such assistance may include”.

Sec. 205 Reemployment of annuitants

Section 824(g) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4064(g)) is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (1)(B), by striking “to facilitate the” and all that follows through “Afghanistan, if” and inserting “to facilitate the assignment of persons to high threat, high risk posts or to posts vacated by members of the Service assigned to high threat, high risk posts, if”;
(2)
by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:

“(2) The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the incurred costs over the prior fiscal year of the total compensation and benefit payments to annuitants reemployed by the Department pursuant to this section.”

(3)
by adding after paragraph (3) the following paragraphs:

“(4) In the event that an annuitant qualified for compensation or payments pursuant to this subsection subsequently transfers to a position for which the annuitant would not qualify for a waiver under this subsection, the Secretary may no longer waive the application of subsections (a) through (d) with respect to such annuitant.

“(5) The authority of the Secretary to waive the application of subsections (a) through (d) for an annuitant pursuant to this subsection shall terminate on October 1, 2019.”