Description:
H.R. 6374 would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), within 180 days of enactment, to issue uniform fitness (or conduct) standards for hiring contract employees that must be followed by all DHS agencies. Within one year of enactment, DHS would have to provide contractors with monthly updates on the status of their employees’ fitness determinations and collect quarterly data on processing times for fitness investigations. Using information from DHS, CBO estimates that implementing those provisions would cost about $1 million in fiscal year 2019 and less than $500,000 annually thereafter; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Most costs would be for technological enhancements to a system to provide accurate monthly updates on the status of contract employees’ fitness determinations. DHS currently employs thousands of contract employees. Enacting H.R. 6374 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 6374 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. H.R. 6374 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
