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Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§4654 Prohibition against doing business with certain offerors or contractors

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - General Military Law › Part PART V— - ACQUISITION › Subpart Subpart H— - Contract Management › Chapter CHAPTER 363— - PROHIBITION AND PENALTIES › § 4654

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A Secretary of a military department must not ask for bids, give a contract, extend a contract, or approve a subcontract (when the Secretary’s approval is needed) to a company that the Secretary knows has been debarred or suspended by another federal agency. If a company is debarred, the ban stays until all agencies end the debarment or the set debarment time runs out. If the company is suspended, the ban stays until the suspension time set by all agencies ends. The Secretary can make an exception for a compelling reason. If an exception is made, the Secretary must send a notice right away to the Administrator of General Services, who will post the notice on a public website as much as possible. “Debar” means being officially kept out of government contracting for a set time because of serious failure or poor performance. “Suspend” means being temporarily barred because of suspected criminal, fraudulent, or very improper conduct. The Secretary of Defense must make rules that require DoD contractors to have subcontractors say, when a subcontract is awarded, whether they are debarred or suspended at that time. That rule applies to subcontracts over the simplified acquisition threshold (see section 134 of title 41) but not to subcontracts for commercial products or services.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §4654

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary of a military department may not solicit an offer from, award a contract to, extend an existing contract with, or, when approval by the Secretary of the award of a subcontract is required, approve the award of a subcontract to, an offeror or contractor which to the Secretary’s knowledge has been debarred or suspended by another Federal agency unless—
(A)in the case of debarment, the debarment of the offeror or contractor by all other agencies has been terminated or the period of time specified for such debarment has expired; and
(B)in the case of a suspension, the period of time specified by all other agencies for the suspension of the offeror or contractor has expired.
(2)Paragraph (1) does not apply in any case in which the Secretary concerned determines that there is a compelling reason to solicit an offer from, award a contract to, extend a contract with, or approve a subcontract with such offeror or contractor.
(b)Whenever the Secretary concerned makes a determination described in subsection (a)(2), he shall, at the time of the determination, transmit a notice to the Administrator of General Services describing the determination. The Administrator of General Services shall maintain each such notice on a publicly accessible website to the maximum extent practicable.
(c)In this section:
(1)The term “debar” means to exclude, pursuant to established administrative procedures, from Government contracting and subcontracting for a specified period of time commensurate with the seriousness of the failure or offense or the inadequacy of performance.
(2)The term “suspend” means to disqualify, pursuant to established administrative procedures, from Government contracting and subcontracting for a temporary period of time because a concern or individual is suspected of engaging in criminal, fraudulent, or seriously improper conduct.
(d)The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe in regulations a requirement that each contractor under contract with the Department of Defense shall require each contractor to whom it awards a contract (in this section referred to as a subcontractor) to disclose to the contractor whether the subcontractor is or is not, as of the time of the award of the subcontract, debarred or suspended by the Federal Government from Government contracting or subcontracting. The requirement shall apply to any subcontractor whose subcontract is in an amount greater than the simplified acquisition threshold (as defined in section 134 of title 41). The requirement shall not apply in the case of a subcontract for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services (as defined in section 103 and 103a, respectively, of title 41).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 4654 was renumbered section 7654 of this title.

Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 renumbered section 2393 of this title as this section. 2018—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 115–232 substituted “commercial products or commercial services (as defined in section 103 and 103a, respectively, of title 41)” for “commercial items (as defined in section 103 of title 41)”. 2013—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 113–66 substituted “on a publicly accessible website to the maximum extent practicable” for “in a file available for public inspection”. 2011—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 111–350 substituted “section 134 of title 41)” for “section 4(11) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(11)))” and “section 103 of title 41)” for “section 4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12)))”. 1994—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 103–355 substituted “greater than the simplified acquisition threshold (as defined in section 4(11) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(11))).” for “above the small purchase amount established in section 2304(g) of this title.” in second sentence and inserted at end “The requirement shall not apply in the case of a subcontract for the acquisition of commercial items (as defined in section 4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12))).” 1991—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 102–190 substituted “Federal Government” for “Federal government”. 1990—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 101–510 added subsec. (d). 1987—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100–180 inserted “The term” after each par. designation and revised first word in quotes in each par. to make initial letter of such word lowercase.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2021 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 116–283 effective Jan. 1, 2022, with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see section 1801(d) of Pub. L. 116–283, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Jan. 1, 2020, subject to a

Savings Provision

, see section 836(h) of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2018 Amendment;

Savings Provision

note under section 453b of Title 6, Domestic Security.

Effective Date

of 1994 AmendmentFor

Effective Date

and applicability of amendment by Pub. L. 103–355, see section 10001 of Pub. L. 103–355, set out as a note under section 8752 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 4654

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73