Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act of 2007

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri, and particularly thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania in my absence for assuming the responsibility because I was at a hearing on Blackwater.

H.R. 3068, as amended, the Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act of 2007, ensures that Federal Protective Service guard contractors are ``capable, responsible, and ethical,'' and those are the words of the regulation. I want to thank Chairman Oberstar for facilitating early consideration of this bill, and for the leadership on both sides, including the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Ranking Member Graves for understanding its importance and for their efforts in support of the bill.

The Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act prohibits the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from contracting with any security guard service that is owned, controlled or operated by an individual who has been convicted of a felony. The bill would eliminate proxy operation by felons who are relatives, spouses or others.

H.R. 3068, as amended, is a result of two oversight hearings Mr. Graves and I held that examined the role of the Federal Protective Service in providing security for the Nation's public buildings. There was evidence of serious allegations of wrongdoing, chaos and irregularities in the contracting and employment of private security guards whose mission it is to protect Federal employees and facilities.

Our subcommittee worked closely with appropriate Department of Homeland Security officials to eliminate the backlog in payments to guards and to correct FPS mismanagement that risked the security of Federal employees and visitors. FPS guards, like guards employed by the Federal Government, these security guards are used on our most sensitive buildings, including here in the Nation's Capital and the National Capital region where your most secure facilities are located.

Therefore, it was surprising to learn that an individual with a felony conviction would hold a contract for security services in a Federal building, especially here, but frankly anywhere in the United States in the post-9/11 climate.

It was clear that this bill was necessary when our subcommittee learned at a hearing in June that an FPS security guard contractor had failed to pay 600 D.C. area Federal security officers and to make other important benefit payments to pensions, health benefits and the like. Our subcommittee intervened when an action by the FPS and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of DHS where FPS is placed, was reported to us.

The effects on the security of employees, visitors and the Federal agencies alike could not be ignored in today's post-9/11 climate.

We are indebted to the contract security officers who continue to work to protect Federal workers, the visiting public and the work sites, as well as to their unions. As a result of the subcommittee's June hearing, we learned that an individual who had served 5 years in prison for money laundering and fraud was a de facto owner of a private security business despite Federal law barring felons from owning companies that do business with the Federal Government. In fact, it was the felon, not his wife, who came forward to defend the company after it failed to pay the 600 D.C.-based guards despite receipt of funds for payment from the FPS. His testimony concerning his operational control of the company was nothing short of a case study in evasion of existing law by taking advantage of obvious loopholes.

His company has, of course, since been dismissed. H.R. 3068, as amended, strengthens existing requirements and prohibits all proxy ownerships by felons, including control or operation by an individual who has been convicted of a felony.

H.R. 3068, as amended, reminds us that we must not lose sight of the mission of private contract guards who serve the Federal Government to guard Federal employees and sites as vital as nuclear plants and military posts against terrorism and crime. The example of unpaid contract guards and apparent misuse of Federal funds that had been directed to pay them demonstrated why these contractors must be required to have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics. H.R. 3068, as amended, codifies this important requirement.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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