To prohibit conflict of interests among consulting firms that simultaneously contract with the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the United States Government, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Time to Choose Act of 2024 requires consulting firms to certify they do not work for covered foreign entities (including Chinese, Russian, and state-sponsor-of-terrorism governments and affiliates) before receiving US federal contracts. The Federal Acquisition Regulation must be amended within one year to enforce this prohibition, with limited national security waivers available.
Who Benefits and How
US national security interests benefit by preventing consulting firms from simultaneously advising foreign adversaries and the US government. Consulting firms that exclusively serve US clients gain a competitive advantage in federal contracting. The defense and intelligence communities benefit from reduced risk of conflicts of interest in their contractor base.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Large global consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte face the burden of choosing between lucrative foreign contracts (especially in China) and US federal contracts. Firms that falsely certify face contract termination, debarment, and triple damages under the False Claims Act. Executive agencies bear compliance monitoring responsibilities.
Key Provisions
- Requires self-certification that firms and affiliates have no contracts with covered foreign entities (Section 3)
- Allows limited national security waivers with extensive disclosure requirements and congressional notification (Section 3)
- Imposes contract termination, debarment, and False Claims Act penalties for false certifications (Section 4)
- Broadly defines covered foreign entities to include China, Russia, state sponsors of terrorism, and Commerce Department restricted lists (Section 5)
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Prohibits US government consulting contracts from being awarded to firms that simultaneously provide consulting services to covered foreign entities including China, Russia, and state sponsors of terrorism.
Key Policy Areas
National Security, Government Contracting, Foreign Policy
Primary Purpose
Prohibits US government consulting contracts from being awarded to firms that simultaneously provide consulting services to covered foreign entities including China, Russia, and state sponsors of terrorism.
Policy Domains
Federal Consulting Conflict of Interest Prohibition
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- US national security apparatus
- Domestic-only consulting firms
- Defense and intelligence agencies
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Global consulting firms (McKinsey, Deloitte, etc.)
- Federal contracting offices
- Executive agency heads
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedReported by Mr. Peters, with an amendment and an amendment …
Mr. Hawley introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Mr. Hawley (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Rubio, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Consulting firms submitting false certifications, Consulting firms with China-linked clients, Domestic-only consulting firms
Positive-direction: Domestic-only consulting firms, False Claims Act whistleblowers
Negative-direction: Consulting firms submitting false certifications, Consulting firms with China-linked clients, Global management consulting firms
Congressional record, Entities affiliated with PRC government, Executive agency heads
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "Congress"
- → Receives waiver notifications and briefings (Sec 3)
- "Director of OMB"
- → Approves waiver notifications (Sec 3)
- "Secretary of Defense"
- → Consulted on waiver decisions (Sec 3)
- "Heads of executive agencies"
- → May grant limited waivers, enforce penalties (Sec 3, 4)
- "Director of National Intelligence"
- → Consulted on waiver decisions (Sec 3)
- "Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council"
- → Amends FAR to implement certification and prohibition (Sec 3)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Advisory or assistance services similar to FAR 2.101 definition, provided to covered foreign entities, excluding legal/audit/tax compliance services and judicial dispute resolution
Government of PRC/CCP/PLA/MSS, Government of Russian Federation or sanctioned entities, governments designated as state sponsors of terrorism, entities on Commerce Department restricted lists, DOD-identified Chinese military companies, and NS-CMIC listed entities
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services including codes 54151 through 541690
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