Senator Hawley Calls for Ban on China-linked Consulting Firms from Federal Contracts

According to a report on July 18th, a plan put forward by Senator Josh Hawley would prohibit the U.S. federal government from awarding contracts to consulting firms with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The bill, called “the Time to Choose Act”, would prohibit the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies from signing contracts to U.S. consulting firms that contract with the Chinese government, the CCP or its affiliates.

“The fact that these consultants are awarded huge contracts by our Defense Department and other federal agencies, while they are simultaneously working to advance China’s efforts to coerce the United States is appalling and completely unacceptable,” Hawley said.

He stressed that the U.S. government is long overdue to hold these companies accountable and ban this conflict of interest in government contracts.

In addition, the bill would penalize consulting firms that attempt to conceal or misrepresent their relationship with the Chinese regime, and would also prohibit those firms from accepting future contracts.

Likewise, the bill would terminate existing federal contracts with companies working for the CCP and require those companies to pay fines equal to three times what the U.S. government spent on their contracts.

It was recently discovered that McKinsey & Company now holds federal contracts with the U.S. government while working for CCP-owned companies. Since 2008, the firm has received nearly $900 million in taxpayer funds through the contracts.