Bill would put job creation pressure on contractors

Under a new House bill, an important factor in judging contract bids would be how many jobs a company says it could create if it was awarded a federal contract, but the company could suffer for an inaccurate assessment.

Companies would include in their proposals a “jobs impact statement.” The statement would tell the government the number of jobs a company believes it and its subcontractors may create, or at least not end, in the United States. The statement would also be “a guarantee from the offeror” that U.S. jobs would not be shipped overseas after the government awarded the contract.

Five House members introduced the American Jobs Matter Act (H.R. 1354) April 4.

The measure would require that, six months after making an award, the contracting officer would monitor the company’s numbers in its statement compared with actual job numbers. With those reviews, the contracting officer would have to track the numbers throughout the life of the contract, and compare the number of jobs with the jobs impact statement. The point would be is to see if the company was correct or missed its estimate.

The jobs statement and the agency evaluations would become a major factor for a company in future contract competitions.

“If the number of jobs that the agency estimates will be created by using the jobs impact statement significantly exceeds the number of jobs created or retained, then the agency may evaluate whether the contractor should be proposed for debarment,” according to the bill.

The bill was referred to the Government Reform and Oversight Committee and the Armed Services Committee.