should be waived pursuant to procedures and criteria established in implementing regulations issued pursuant to subsection (o) and notifies the Congress in writing of such determination.

The authority to make determinations under clause (ii) of this subparagraph may not be delegated.

(f) RESTRICTIONS RESULTING FROM PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES OF PROCUREMENT OFFICIALS.-(1) No individual who, while serving as an officer or employee of the Government or member of the Armed Forces, was a procurement official with respect to a particular procurement may knowingly

(A) participate in any manner, as an officer, employee, agent, or representative of a competing contractor, in any negotiations leading to the award, modification, or extension of a contract for such procurement, or

(B) participate personally and substantially on behalf of the competing contractor in the performance of such contract, during the period ending 2 years after the last date such individual participated personally and substantially in the conduct of such procurement or personally reviewed and approved the award, modification, or extension of any contract for such procurement.

(2) This subsection does not apply to any participation referred to in paragraph (1)(A) or (1)(B) with respect to a subcontractor who is a competing contractor unless

(A) the subcontractor is a first or second tier subcontractor and the subcontract is for an amount that is in excess of $100,000;

(B) the subcontractor significantly assisted the prime contractor with respect to negotiation of the prime contract;

(C) the procurement official involved in the award, modification, or extension of the prime contract personally directed or recommended the particular subcontractor to the prime contractor as a source for the subcontract; or

(D) the procurement official personally reviewed and approved the award, modification, or extension of the subcontract.

(3)(A)(i) The President may grant a waiver of a restriction imposed by paragraph (1) (relating to post-Government service employment) to an officer or employee described in subparagraph (B) if the President determines and certifies in writing that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver and that the services of the officer or employee are critically needed for the benefit of the Federal Government. Not more than 25 officers and employees currently employed by the Government at any one time may hold waivers under this subparagraph.

(ii) A waiver granted under this subparagraph to any person shall apply only with respect to activities engaged in by that person after that person's Government employment is terminated and only to that person's employment at a Government-owned, contractor operated entity with which the person served as an officer or employee immediately before the person's Government employment began.

(B) Waivers under subparagraph (A) may be granted only to civilian officers and employees of the executive branch, other than officers and employees in the Executive Office of the President.

(C) A certification under subparagraph (A) shall take effect upon its publication in the Federal Register and shall identify(i) the officer or employee covered by the waiver by name and by position, and

(ii) the reasons for granting the waiver.

A copy of the certification shall also be provided to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics.

(D) The President may not delegate the authority provided by this paragraph.

(E)(i) Each person granted a waiver under this paragraph shall prepare reports, in accordance with clause (ii), stating whether the person has engaged in activities otherwise prohibited by this section for each six-month period described in clause (ii), and if so, what those activities were.

(ii) A report under clause (i) shall cover each six-month period beginning on the date of the termination of the person's Government employment (with respect to which the waiver under this paragraph was granted) and ending two years after that date. Such report shall be filed with the President and the Director of the Office of Government Ethics not later than 60 days after the end of the six-month period covered by the report. All reports filed with the Director under this subparagraph shall be made available for public inspection and copying.

(iii) If a person fails to file any report in accordance with clauses (i) and (ii), the President shall revoke the waiver and notify the person of the revocation. The revocation shall take effect upon the person's receipt of the notification and shall remain in effect until the report is filed.

(iv) Any person who is granted a waiver under this paragraph shall be ineligible for appointment in the civil service unless all reports required of such person by clauses (i) and (ii) have been filed.

(F) As used in this paragraph, the term "civil service" has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code.

(g) CONTRACTUAL PENALTIES. (1) Regulations issued pursuant to subsection (o) shall require that each contract awarded by a Federal agency contain a clause specified in such regulation that provides appropriate contractual penalties for conduct of any competing contractor prohibited by subsection (a) and for any such conduct of any officer, employee, agent, representative, or consultant of such contractor.

(2) The following remedies are authorized to be included in, and shall be considered in the development of, such regulations:

(A) Denial of payment of all or any portion of the profit component of amounts otherwise payable to the contractor by the Federal agency under the contract and recovery of all or any portion of the profit component of amounts paid to the contractor by the Federal agency under the contract.

(B) Termination of the contract for default.
(C) Any other appropriate penalty.

(h) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS.-(1) If an agency receives a disclosure of information pursuant to subsection (e) or otherwise receives or obtains information providing a reasonable basis to believe that an officer, employee, agent, representative, or consultant of a competing contractor has knowingly violated the requirements of this section

(A) in the case of a procurement in which a contract has not been awarded, the agency shall be determine whether to terminate the procurement or take other appropriate actions;

(B) in the case of a procurement with respect to which a contract has been awarded, the agency shall determine whether to void or rescind the contract, to terminate the contract for default, to impose sanctions upon the contractor, or to permit the contractor to continue to perform the contract, subject to review in accordance with, and to the extent provided in, the Contract Disputes Act of 1978, or to take other appropriate actions; and

(C) if the agency determines that such a knowing violation has occurred, the agency, pursuant to procedures specified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation

(i) may impose an immediate suspension, and

(ii) shall determine whether to initiate a debarment proceeding,

against the competing contractor or other person who committed such violation.

(2) Any procurement official of a Federal agency who engages in conduct prohibited by subsection (b) or (d) shall be subject to removal or other appropriate adverse personnel action pursuant to the procedures specified in chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, or other applicable law or regulation.

(3) The actions taken under paragraph (1) or (2) may be suspended by the agency head upon the request of the Attorney General pending the disposition of any civil or criminal actions pursuant to subsections (i) and (j).

(i) CIVIL PENALTIES.-Any person who engages in conduct prohibited by subsection (a), (b), (d), or (f) shall be subject to the imposition of a civil fine in a civil action brought by the United States in an appropriate district court of the United States. The amount of any such civil fine for such violation may not exceed

(1) $100,000 in the case of an individual; or

(2) $1,000,000 in the case of a competing contractor (other than an individual).

(j) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.-Whoever, during the conduct of a Federal agency procurement of property or services

(1) being a competing contractor or an officer, employee, representative, agent, or consultant of a competing contractor, knowingly and willfully solicits or obtains, directly or indirectly, from any officer or employee of such agency any proprietary or source selection information (as such terms as defined in subsection (p) and in regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (o)), or

(2) being an officer or employee of such agency, knowingly and willfully discloses or promises to disclose, directly or indirectly, to any competing contractor or any officer, employee,

representative, agent, or consultant of a competing contractor any proprietary or source selection information,

shall be imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or fined in accordance with title 18, United States Code, or both.

(k) ETHICS ADVICE. (1) Regulations implementing this section shall include procedures for a procurement official or former procurement official of a Federal agency to request advice from the appropriate designated agency ethics official regarding whether such procurement official or former procurement official is or would be precluded by this section from engaging in a specified activity.

(2) A procurement official or former procurement official of an agency who requests advice from a designated agency ethics official pursuant to paragraph (1) shall provide the agency ethics official with all information reasonably available to the procurement official or former procurement official that is relevant to a determination regarding such request.

(3) Not later than 30 days after the date on which the appropriate designated agency ethics official receives a request for advice pursuant to paragraph (1) accompanied by the information required by paragraph (2), or as soon thereafter as practicable, the official shall issue a written opinion regarding whether the requesting procurement official or former procurement official is precluded by this section from engaging in the specified activity.

(1) TRAINING.-The head of each Federal agency shall establish a procurement ethics program for its procurement officials. The program shall, at a minimum

(1) provide for the distribution of written explanations of the provisions of subsections (b), (c), and (e) to such procurement officials; and

(2) require each such procurement official, as a condition of serving as a procurement official, to certify that he or she is familiar with the provisions of subsections (b), (c), and (e), and will not engage in any conduct prohibited by such subsection, and will report immediately to the contracting officer any information concerning a violation or possible violation of subsection (a), (b), (d), or (f), or applicable implementing regulations.

(m) REMEDIES NOT EXCLUSIVE.-Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the applicability of the requirements, sanctions, contract penalties, and remedies established under any other law, but no agency shall be relieved of the obligation to carry out the requirements of this section because such agency has also applied such other requirements, sanctions, contract penalties, or remedies.

(n) NO AUTHORITY TO WITHHOLD INFORMATION.-Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the withholding of any information from the Congress, any committee or subcommittee thereof, a Federal agency, any board of contract appeals of a Federal agency, the Comptroller General, or an Inspector General of a Federal agency.

(0) IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES. (1) Government-wide regulations and guidelines appropriate to carry out this section shall be included in the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (2) Regulations implementing this section shall

(A) define the term "thing of value" for the purposes of this section and shall include a single uniform Government-wide exclusion at a specific minimal dollar amount; and

(B) authorize the delegation of the functions assigned to designated agency ethics officials under this section.

(3) Notwithstanding sections 6 and 25 of this Act, on and after June 1, 1990, the Director of the Office of Government Ethics shall have the responsibility for issuance, modification, or termination of Government-wide regulations implementing paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b), subsections (c), (f), and (k), and paragraph (2) of this subsection. The Director shall exercise such responsibility in coordination with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council.

(p) DEFINITIONS.-As used in this section:

(1) The term "during the conduct of any Federal agency procurement of property or services" means the period beginning on the earliest specific date, as determined under implementing regulations, on which an authorized official orders or requests an action described in clauses (i)-(viii) of paragraph (3)(A), and concluding with the award, modification, or extension of a contract, and includes the evaluation of bids or proposals, selection of sources, and conduct of negotiations.

(2) The term "competing contractor", with respect to any procurement (including any procurement using procedures other than competitive procedures) of property or services, means any entity that is, or is reasonably likely to become, a competitor for or recipient of a contract or subcontract under such procurement, and includes any other person acting on behalf of such an entity.

(3)(A) The term "procurement official" means, with respect to any procurement (including the modification or extension of a contract), any civilian or military official or employee of an agency who has participated personally and substantially in any of the following, as defined in implementing regulations:

(i) The drafting of a specification developed for that procurement.

(ii) The review and approval of a specification developed for that procurement.

(iii) The preparation or issuance of a procurement solicitation in that procurement.

(iv) The evaluation of bids or proposals for that procurement.

(v) The selection of sources for that procurement. (vi) The conduct of negotiations in the procurement. (vii) The review and approval of the award, modification, or extension of a contract in that procurement.

(viii) Such other specific procurement actions as may be specified in implementing regulations.

(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term "employee of an agency" includes a contractor, subcontractor, consultant, expert, or adviser (other than a competing contractor) acting on behalf of, or providing advice to, the agency with respect to any phase of the agency procurement concerned.