To require reporting of price increases on noncompetitive contracts, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Warren (for herself, Mr. Grassley, Ms. Ernst, and Ms. …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Transparency in Contracting Act requires defense contractors to report significant price increases on non-competitive (sole-source) contracts to the Department of Defense within 30 days. Contractors must report if prices reach 25% above the previous year'''s price or 50% above prices from 5 years earlier. The bill also mandates that the Defense Contract Audit Agency publicly disclose which contractors fail to report these price increases, including detailed product and pricing information.
Who Benefits and How
Taxpayers and congressional oversight committees benefit by gaining visibility into price increases on sole-source defense contracts, where competition doesn'''t naturally constrain costs. The Department of Defense gains a new tool to monitor contractor pricing and identify potential overcharges. Competing defense contractors may benefit indirectly from increased transparency, as it could expose non-competitive pricing and potentially lead to more competitive bidding in the future.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Defense contractors holding sole-source contracts face new compliance burdens. They must track prices, compare them to historical baselines, and report significant increases within 30 days. Contractors who fail to comply face reputational damage through public disclosure in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), which other government agencies review when awarding contracts. The Defense Contract Audit Agency also faces increased workload from tracking noncompliance and maintaining the public reporting system.
Key Provisions
- Contractors must report price increases of 25% year-over-year or 50% over 5 years on non-competitive contracts within 30 days
- The bill only applies to contracts awarded without competition under federal procurement regulations
- The Defense Contract Audit Agency must publicly report contractors who fail to report, including the product'''s National Stock Number, quantities, costs, and purchasing entity
- Reported information becomes part of the contractor'''s public integrity record in the federal contractor database
- The bill applies only to future appropriations, not existing contracts
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires defense contractors to report significant price increases on non-competitive contracts and mandates public tracking of noncompliance
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Increase transparency and accountability in sole-source/non-competitive defense procurement by mandating price reporting and public disclosure"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Defense Department budget oversight
- Congressional oversight committees
- Taxpayers
- Competitive defense contractors
Likely Burden Bearers
- Defense contractors with sole-source contracts
- Contractors who experience significant cost increases
- Defense Contract Audit Agency (increased workload)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency
- "contracting_officer"
- → Government contracting officer handling the specific contract
- "service_acquisition_executive"
- → Service Acquisition Executive (military branch procurement head)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A contract awarded without competition under section 3204 of title 10 USC and as defined under section 6.302 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation
Defense contractor who receives or bids on covered contracts
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology