WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member and Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced the Senate has passed their bipartisan Repeal of Obsolete DHS Contracting Requirements Act to repeal a section of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 which required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prohibit the use of subcontracts for more than 65 percent of the cost of certain emergency response and recovery contracts. The section conflicts with a provision of the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act that imposed a government-wide limitation to prevent excessive subcontracting. The Senate-passed bipartisan legislation reinforces the government-wide standard and provides greater clarity to federal contractors and DHS employees who are responsible for managing our nation’s federal disaster response.
“I applaud the Senate for passing this common-sense bipartisan legislation to provide greater clarity to FEMA officials and other contract workers to ensure a faster response time during natural emergencies,” said Senator Portman.
“This commonsense bill removes conflicting subcontracting requirements that caused confusion for FEMA officials and contractors, and weakened disaster response efforts for communities recovering from floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme storms,” said Senator Peters. “Now that it has passed the Senate, I urge my colleagues in the House to quickly pass this bipartisan bill so that federal official and contractors receive consistent guidance on subcontracting requirements when responding to worsening natural disasters.”
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