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HR 3426 108th Congress House

Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2003

Official title: To ensure that the business of the Federal Government is conducted in the public interest and in a manner that provides for public accountability, efficient de… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: To ensure that the business of the Federal Government is conducted in the public interest and in a manner that provides for public accountability, efficient delivery of services, reasonable cost savings, and prevention of unwarranted Government expenses, and for other purposes.

Introduced: October 30, 2003 See on congress.gov
Government Operations and Politics Armed Forces and National SecurityBlindCommerceCompetition
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Competitive biddingCongressCongressional investigationsCongressional oversightCongressional reporting requirementsCost accountingCost controlCrime and Law EnforcementData banksDefense contractsDisabledElectronic government informationEmployee health benefitsEmployee-management relations in governmentFederal employees
This bill died when the 108th Congress ended
It never became law before the 108th Congress (2003–2004) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Oct 30, 2003
Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform.
Oct 30, 2003
Introduced in House
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 Latest action October 30, 2003

Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2003 - Requires the head of each Federal agency to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget a certification that a contracting function decision was based on a public-private competition and that the agency: (1) has established a centralized reporting system; (2) is not managing Federal employees by any arbitrary limitations; and (3) is reviewing work performed by contractors, recompeting or contracting in work when appropriate, and subjecting to public-private competition a certain number of Federal employee and contractor positions.

Prohibits the head of an agency from entering into any contract for the performance of services until the Director, after reviewing the certification required, determines that the agency is making substantial progress toward meeting requirements under this Act. Allows the Director to waive the applicability of this Act for national security and other specified reasons.

Requires that any decision by an agency to either transfer the performance of a function from Federal employees to a contractor or to assign to a contractor the performance of a function not currently performed by Federal employees to be based on the results of a public-private competition process that formally compares the costs of Federal employee versus contractor performance.

Directs the Comptroller General to monitor agency compliance with this Act. Authorizes: (1) the Secretaries of Defense and of Homeland Security to waive the application of the public-private competition requirements under specified circumstances; and (2) the Director to carry out a limited pilot program regarding the use of alternative public-private competition processes.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 3426: Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2003. 108th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-3426/
MLA
"H.R. 3426: Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2003." 108th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-3426/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 3426, 108th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-3426/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 3426: Truthfulness, Responsibility, and Accountability in Contracting Act of 2003](https://openamerica.io/bill/108-HR-3426/)
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