CONSULT Act of 2023

The CONSULT Act of 2023 prohibits the U.S. Department of Defense from entering into, renewing, or extending contracts with consulting firms that have business ties to specific foreign adversaries, including China’s government, military, or entities on U.S. sanctions lists (like the NS-CMIC List). It requires all companies bidding for DoD contracts to disclose if they’ve worked with these entities in the past five years or currently hold active contracts or funds from them. Failure to disclose can result in immediate contract termination and a five-year ban from federal contracting. The bill also allows affected firms to submit certification proving they’ve severed such ties to regain eligibility, with the Department of Defense mandated to update its acquisition policies within one year.