I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 938
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restrict contracts with
foreign countries of concern and foreign entities of concern.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY4, 2025
Mr. H
ARRISof North Carolina (for himself and Mr. OWENS) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to restrict
contracts with foreign countries of concern and foreign
entities of concern.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Contracts with 4
Foreign Adversaries Act’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 938 IH
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTS WITH CERTAIN FOR-1
EIGN ENTITIES AND COUNTRIES. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part B of title I of the Higher 3
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amend-4
ed by inserting after section 117 the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 117A. PROHIBITION ON CONTRACTS WITH CERTAIN 6
FOREIGN ENTITIES AND COUNTRIES. 7
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—An institution shall not enter 8
into a contract with a foreign country of concern or a for-9
eign entity of concern. 10
‘‘(b) W
AIVERS.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A waiver issued under this 12
section to an institution with respect to a contract 13
shall only— 14
‘‘(A) waive the prohibition under sub-15
section (a) for a 1-year period; and 16
‘‘(B) apply to the terms and conditions of 17
the proposed contract submitted as part of the 18
request for such waiver. 19
‘‘(2) S
UBMISSION.— 20
‘‘(A) F
IRST WAIVER REQUESTS.— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—An institution 22
that desires to enter into a contract with 23
a foreign entity of concern or a foreign 24
country of concern may submit to the Sec-25
retary, not later than 120 days before the 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 938 IH
institution enters into such a contract, a 1
request to waive the prohibition under sub-2
section (a) with respect to such contract. 3
‘‘(ii) C
ONTENTS OF WAIVER RE -4
QUEST.—A waiver request submitted by an 5
institution under clause (i) shall include— 6
‘‘(I) the complete and unredacted 7
text of the proposed contract for 8
which the waiver is being requested, 9
and if such original contract is not in 10
English, a translated copy of the text 11
into English by a person that is not 12
an affiliated entity or agent of the for-13
eign source involved with such con-14
tract; and 15
‘‘(II) a statement that— 16
‘‘(aa) is certified by the 17
compliance officer of the institu-18
tion designated in accordance 19
with subsection (e); and 20
‘‘(bb) includes information 21
that demonstrates that such con-22
tract— 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 938 IH
‘‘(AA) is for the benefit 1
of the institution’s mission 2
and students; and 3
‘‘(BB) will promote the 4
security, stability, and eco-5
nomic vitality of the United 6
States. 7
‘‘(B) R
ENEWAL WAIVER REQUESTS .— 8
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—An institution 9
that, pursuant to a waiver issued under 10
this section, has entered into a contract, 11
the term of which is longer than the 1-year 12
waiver period and the terms and conditions 13
of which remain the same as the proposed 14
contract submitted as part of the request 15
for such waiver may submit, not later than 16
120 days before the expiration of such 17
waiver period, a request for a renewal of 18
such waiver for an additional 1-year period 19
(which shall include any information re-20
quested by the Secretary). 21
‘‘(ii) T
ERMINATION.—If the institu-22
tion fails to submit a request under clause 23
(i) or is not granted a renewal under such 24
clause, such institution shall terminate 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 938 IH
such contract on the last day of the origi-1
nal 1-year waiver period. 2
‘‘(3) W
AIVER ISSUANCE.—The Secretary— 3
‘‘(A) not later than 60 days before an in-4
stitution enters into a contract pursuant to a 5
waiver request under paragraph (2)(A), or be-6
fore a contract described in paragraph (2)(B)(i) 7
is renewed pursuant to a renewal request under 8
such paragraph, shall notify the institution— 9
‘‘(i) if the waiver or renewal will be 10
issued by the Secretary; and 11
‘‘(ii) in a case in which the waiver or 12
renewal will be issued, the date on which 13
the 1-year waiver period starts; and 14
‘‘(B) may only issue a waiver under this 15
section to an institution if the Secretary deter-16
mines, in consultation with the Director of the 17
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director 18
of National Intelligence, the Director of the 19
Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of 20
State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney 21
General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Sec-22
retary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of 23
Energy, the Director of the National Science 24
Foundation, and the Director of the National 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 938 IH
Institutes of Health, that the contract for which 1
the waiver is being requested— 2
‘‘(i) is for the benefit of the institu-3
tion’s mission and students; and 4
‘‘(ii) will promote the security, sta-5
bility, and economic vitality of the United 6
States. 7
‘‘(4) D
ISCLOSURE.—Not less than 2 weeks 8
prior to issuing a waiver under paragraph (2), the 9
Secretary shall notify the— 10
‘‘(A) the Committee on Education and 11
Workforce of the House of Representatives; and 12
‘‘(B) the Committee on Health, Education, 13
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, 14
of the intent to issue the waiver, including a jus-15
tification for the waiver. 16
‘‘(c) D
ESIGNATIONDURINGCONTRACTTERM.—In 17
the case of an institution that enters into a contract with 18
a foreign source that is not a foreign country of concern 19
or a foreign entity of concern but which, during the term 20
of such contract, is designated as a foreign country of con-21
cern or foreign entity of concern, such institution shall ter-22
minate such contract not later than 60 days after the Sec-23
retary notifies the institution of such designation. 24
‘‘(d) C
ONTRACTSPRIOR TODATE OFENACTMENT.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 938 IH
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an institu-1
tion that has entered into a contract with a foreign 2
country of concern or foreign entity of concern prior 3
to the date of enactment of the No Contracts with 4
Foreign Adversaries Act— 5
‘‘(A) the institution shall as soon as prac-6
ticable, but not later than 30 days after such 7
date of enactment, submit to the Secretary a 8
waiver request in accordance with clause (ii) of 9
subsection (b)(2)(A); and 10
‘‘(B) the Secretary shall, upon receipt of 11
the request submitted under such clause, issue 12
a waiver to the institution for a period begin-13
ning on the date on which the waiver is issued 14
and ending on the sooner of— 15
‘‘(i) the date that is 1 year after the 16
date of enactment of the No Contracts 17
with Foreign Adversaries Act; or 18
‘‘(ii) the date on which the contract 19
terminates. 20
‘‘(2) R
ENEWAL.—An institution that has en-21
tered into a contract described in paragraph (1), the 22
term of which is longer than the waiver period de-23
scribed in subparagraph (B) of such paragraph and 24
the terms and conditions of which remain the same 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 938 IH
as the contract submitted as part of the request re-1
quired under subparagraph (A) of such paragraph, 2
may submit a request for renewal of the waiver 3
issued under such paragraph in accordance with 4
subsection (b)(2)(B). 5
‘‘(e) C
OMPLIANCEOFFICER.—Any institution that 6
submits a waiver under this section shall designate, before 7
the submission of such waiver, and maintain, a compliance 8
officer, who shall— 9
‘‘(1) be a current employee or legally authorized 10
agent of such institution; and 11
‘‘(2) be responsible, on behalf of the institution, 12
for personally certifying accurate compliance with 13
the waiver requirements under this section. 14
‘‘(f) E
NFORCEMENT.— 15
‘‘(1) I
NVESTIGATION.—The Secretary (acting 16
through the General Counsel of the Department) 17
shall conduct investigations of possible violations of 18
this section by institutions and, whenever it appears 19
that an institution has knowingly or willfully failed 20
to comply with a requirement of this section (includ-21
ing any rule or regulation promulgated under this 22
section), shall request that the Attorney General 23
bring a civil action in accordance with paragraph 24
(2). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 938 IH
‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—Whenever it appears that 1
an institution has knowingly or willfully failed to 2
comply with a requirement of this section (including 3
any rule or regulation promulgated under this sec-4
tion) based on an investigation under such para-5
graph, a civil action shall be brought by the Attor-6
ney General, at the request of the Secretary, in an 7
appropriate district court of the United States, or 8
the appropriate United States court of any territory 9
or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the 10
United States, to request such court to compel com-11
pliance with the requirement of this section that has 12
been violated. 13
‘‘(3) C
OSTS AND OTHER FINES .—An institution 14
that is compelled to comply with a requirement of 15
this section pursuant to paragraph (2) shall— 16
‘‘(A) pay to the Treasury of the United 17
States the full costs to the United States of ob-18
taining compliance with such requirement, in-19
cluding all associated costs of investigation and 20
enforcement; and 21
‘‘(B) be subject to the applicable fines de-22
scribed in paragraph (4). 23
‘‘(4) F
INES FOR VIOLATIONS .—The Secretary 24
shall impose a fine on an institution that is com-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 938 IH
pelled to comply with a requirement of this section 1
pursuant to paragraph (2) as follows: 2
‘‘(A) F
IRST-TIME VIOLATIONS.—In the 3
case of an institution that knowingly or willfully 4
fails to comply with a requirement of this sec-5
tion for the first time, the Secretary shall im-6
pose a fine on the institution in an amount that 7
is not less than 5 percent and not more than 8
10 percent of the total amount of Federal funds 9
received by the institution under this Act for 10
the most recent fiscal year. 11
‘‘(B) S
UBSEQUENT VIOLATIONS .—In the 12
case of an institution that has been fined pur-13
suant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 14
impose a fine on the institution for each subse-15
quent time the institution knowingly or willfully 16
fails to comply with a requirement of this sec-17
tion in an amount that is not less than 20 per-18
cent of the total amount of Federal funds re-19
ceived by the institution under this Act for the 20
most recent fiscal year. 21
‘‘(C) I
NELIGIBILTY FOR WAIVER .—In the 22
case of an institution that has been fined pur-23
suant to subparagraph (A) with respect to a 24
calendar year, and that knowingly or willfully 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 938 IH
fails to comply with a requirement of this sec-1
tion with respect to any 2 additional calendar 2
years, the Secretary shall prohibit the institu-3
tion from obtaining a waiver, or a renewal of a 4
waiver, under this section. 5
‘‘(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
‘‘(1) C
ONTRACT.—The term ‘contract’— 7
‘‘(A) means— 8
‘‘(i) any agreement for the acquisition 9
by purchase, lease, or barter of property or 10
services by the foreign source; 11
‘‘(ii) any affiliation, agreement, or 12
similar transaction with a foreign source 13
that involves the use or exchange of an in-14
stitution’s name, likeness, time, services, or 15
resources; and 16
‘‘(iii) any agreement for the acquisi-17
tion by purchase, lease, or barter, of prop-18
erty or services from a foreign source 19
(other than an arms-length agreement for 20
such acquisition from a foreign source that 21
is not a foreign country of concern or a 22
foreign entity of concern); and 23
‘‘(B) does not include an agreement made 24
between an institution and a foreign source re-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12
•HR 938 IH
garding any payment of one or more elements 1
of a student’s cost of attendance (as such term 2
is defined in section 472), unless such an agree-3
ment is made for more than 15 students or is 4
made under a restricted or conditional contract. 5
‘‘(2) F
OREIGN COUNTRY OF CONCERN .—The 6
term ‘foreign country of concern’ means the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(A) Any covered nation defined in section 9
4872 of title 10, United States Code. 10
‘‘(B) Any country the Secretary, in con-11
sultation with the Secretary of Defense, the 12
Secretary of State, and the Director of National 13
Intelligence, determines, for purposes of section 14
117 or this section, to be engaged in conduct 15
that is detrimental to the national security or 16
foreign policy of the United States. 17
‘‘(3) F
OREIGN ENTITY OF CONCERN .—The 18
term ‘foreign entity of concern’ has the meaning 19
given such term in section 10612(a) of the Research 20
and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act 21
(42 U.S.C. 19221(a)) and includes a foreign entity 22
that is identified on the list published under section 23
1286(c)(8)(A) of the John S. McCain National De-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13
•HR 938 IH
fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 1
U.S.C. 22 4001 note; Public Law 115–232). 2
‘‘(4) I
NSTITUTION.—The term ‘institution’ 3
means an institution of higher education (as such 4
term is defined in section 102, other than an institu-5
tion described in subsection (a)(1)(C) of such sec-6
tion).’’. 7
(b) P
ROGRAMPARTICIPATIONAGREEMENT.—Section 8
487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9
1094) is amended by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(30)(A) An institution will comply with the re-11
quirements of section 117A. 12
‘‘(B) An institution that, for 3 consecutive in-13
stitutional fiscal years, violates any requirement of 14
section 117A shall— 15
‘‘(i) be ineligible to participate in the pro-16
grams authorized by this title for a period of 17
not less than 2 institutional fiscal years; and 18
‘‘(ii) in order to regain eligibility to partici-19
pate in such programs, demonstrate compliance 20
with all requirements of each such section for 21
not less than 2 institutional fiscal years after 22
the institutional fiscal year in which such insti-23
tution became ineligible.’’. 24
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:37 Mar 03, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H938.IH H938
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS