# § 4660. Prohibition on collection of political information
**(a)** **Prohibition on Requiring Submission of Political Information.—** The head of an agency may not require a contractor to submit political information related to the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier, or any partner, officer, director, or employee of the contractor or subcontractor—
**(1)** as part of a solicitation, request for bid, request for proposal, or any other form of communication designed to solicit offers in connection with the award of a contract for procurement of property or services; or
**(2)** during the course of contract performance as part of the process associated with modifying a contract or exercising a contract option.
**(b)** **Scope.—** The prohibition under this section applies to the procurement of commercial products and commercial services, the procurement of commercial-off-the-shelf-items, and the non-commercial procurement of supplies, property, services, and manufactured items, irrespective of contract vehicle, including contracts, purchase orders, task or deliver orders under indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts, blanket purchase agreements, and basic ordering agreements.
**(c)** **Rule of Construction.—** Nothing in this section shall be construed as—
**(1)** waiving, superseding, restricting, or limiting the application of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) or preventing Federal regulatory or law enforcement agencies from collecting or receiving information authorized by law; or
**(2)** precluding the Defense Contract Audit Agency from accessing and reviewing certain information, including political information, for the purpose of identifying unallowable costs and administering cost principles established pursuant to subchapter I of chapter 273 of this title.
**(d)** **Definitions.—** In this section:
**(1)** **Contractor.—** The term “contractor” includes contractors, bidders, and offerors, and individuals and legal entities who would reasonably be expected to submit offers or bids for Federal Government contracts.
**(2)** **Political information.—** The term “political information” means information relating to political spending, including any payment consisting of a contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication that is made by the contractor, any of its partners, officers, directors or employees, or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries to a candidate or on behalf of a candidate for election for Federal office, to a political committee, to a political party, to a third party entity with the intention or reasonable expectation that it would use the payment to make independent expenditures or electioneering communications, or that is otherwise made with respect to any election for Federal office, party affiliation, and voting history.
**(3)** **Other terms.—** Each of the terms “contribution”, “expenditure”, “independent expenditure”, “candidate”, “election”, “electioneering communication”, and “Federal office” has the meaning given that term in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.).
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**Source Credit**: (Added Pub. L. 112–81, div. A, title VIII, § 823(a), Dec. 31, 2011, 125 Stat. 1502, § 2335; amended Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title X, § 1071(f)(17), Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3511; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(a)(32), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1596; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 836(c)(10), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1866; renumbered § 4660 and amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVIII, §§ 1862(b), 1883(b)(2), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 4277, 4294; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title XVII, § 1701(d)(14), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 2137.)
## Editorial Notes
### References in Text
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, referred to in subsecs. (c)(1) and (d)(3), is , , , which is classified principally to chapter 301 (§ 30101 et seq.) of Title 52, Voting and Elections. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.
### Prior Provisions
A prior section 4681, , ; , , ; , , , related to sale to States and certain foreign governments of surplus war material, prior to repeal by , , .
Prior sections 4682 to 4690 were renumbered sections 7682 to 7690 of this title, respectively.
### Amendments
2021—, renumbered as this section.
Subsec. (c)(2). substituted “subchapter I of chapter 273” for “section 2324”.
, which directed that each reference in the text of title 10 to a section that was redesignated by title XVIII of , as such section was in effect before the redesignation, be amended by striking such reference and inserting a reference to the appropriate redesignated section, was not executed with respect to “section 2324”, which was redesignated as multiple sections.
2018—Subsec. (b). substituted “commercial products and commercial services” for “commercial items”.
2017—Subsecs. (c)(1), (d)(3). substituted “( et seq.)” for “( et seq.)”.
2014—Subsec. (d)(2). , redesignated last sentence as par. (3).
Subsec. (d)(3). , (iii), substituted “that term” for “the term” and “Federal Election Campaign” for “Federal Campaign”.
, which directed amendment of par. (3) by inserting “.—” before “each of”, was executed by making the insertion before “Each of” to reflect the probable intent of Congress.
, redesignated last sentence of par. (2) as (3).
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 2021 Amendment
Amendment by to take effect immediately after the amendments made by title XVIII of have taken effect, see , set out in a note preceding and note below.
Amendment by effective , with additional provisions for delayed implementation and applicability of existing law, see , set out as a note preceding .
### Effective Date of 2018 Amendment
Amendment by effective , subject to a savings provision, see , set out as an Effective Date of 2018 Amendment; Savings Provision note under , Domestic Security.