To require a quarterly report on audits conducted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency fo task or delivery order contracts and other contracts related to security and reconstruction activities in Iraq and Afghanistan and to address irregularities identified in such reports.

SA 463. Mr. BYRD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 1268, making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, to establish and rapidly implement regulations for State driver's license and identification document security standards, to prevent terrorists from abusing the asylum laws of the United States, to unify terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and removal, to ensure expeditious construction of the San Diego border fence, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 169, between lines 8 and 9, insert the following:

audits of defense contracts in iraq and afghanistan

Sec. 1122. (a)(1) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report that lists and describes audits conducted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency of task or delivery order contracts and other contracts related to security and reconstruction activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(2) The Secretary of Defense shall identify in the report submitted under paragraph (1)--

(A) any such task or delivery order contract or other contract that the Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency determines involves costs that are unjustified, unsupported, or questionable, including any charges assessed on goods or services not provided in connection with such task or delivery order contract or other contract; and

(B) the amount of the unjustified, unsupported, or questionable costs and the percentage of the total value of such task or delivery order contract or other contract that such costs represent.

(3) The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives an update of the report submitted under paragraph (1) every 90 days thereafter.

(b) In the event that any costs under a contract are identified by the Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency as unjustified, unsupported, or questionable pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the Secretary of Defense shall withhold from amounts otherwise payable to the contractor under such contract a sum equal to 115 percent of the total amount of such costs.

(c) Upon a subsequent determination by the Director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency that any unjustified, unsupported, or questionable cost for which an amount payable was withheld under subsection (b) has been justified, supported, or answered, as the case may be, the Secretary of Defense may release such amount for payment to the contractor concerned.

(d) In each report or update submitted under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall describe each action taken under subsection (b) or (c) during the period covered by such report or update.