Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced legislation (H.R. 5292) last week that seeks to ensure federal contractors follow the law by creating a centralized database on actions taken against them, including government lawsuits, consent decrees, and administrative agreements. The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Reps. Stephen Horn (R-CA) and Jim Turner (D-TX), follows a report by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), as well as articles in U.S. News & World Report and Mother Jones, which demonstrated that many of the largest federal contractors are also major league lawbreakers. Currently, it is extremely difficult to piece together a federal contractor’s history of compliance with the law. POGO was forced to draw on a wide range of disparate sources, including agency press releases and news articles, to produce its report. A comprehensive, centralized database will make it much easier for federal debarment officials to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not subsidize lawbreaking. If made available through the Internet, as it should, such a database would also make federal contractors more accountable to the public. "In a time when corporate accounting scandals are being revealed at an unprecedented pace, isn’t it wise to have a full accounting of the Federal government’s investments?" Maloney said in a prepared statement. "By spending over $ 215 billion a year on goods and services, the United States is the largest consumer of goods and services. Yet the Federal government’s watchdogs, the Federal suspension and debarment officials, currently lack the information they need to protect our business interests. We currently have no central way of accounting for the performance of our purchases, but this bill will change that." The bill also requires prospective contractors that have been convicted of two similar violations to account for their actions before being awarded a contract, placing the burden of proof on them to demonstrate "responsibility." This provision is similar to, but more modest than, a Clinton-era standard -- repealed by the Bush administration -- that directed bidding companies to report any violations from the previous three years, and directed government contracting officers to consider this information in awarding contracts.