S.Amdt. 651

SA 651. Mr. WYDEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2018 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. MANAGEMENT OF CERTAIN LITIGATION ON BEHALF OF
INDEMNIFIED PRIVATE CONTRACTORS.

(a) In General.--In cases where litigation between an
indemnified Department of Defense contractor and a member of
the Armed Forces relating to the member's work for the
contractor exceeds a period of two years without final
judgement or settlement, the Department shall exercise its
contractual right to manage the litigation on behalf of the
contractor. In doing so, the Department shall ensure that the
fiscal burden on taxpayers is minimized by avoiding
unnecessarily long and expensive litigation, while
simultaneously resolving the claim in a way that meets the
Department's obligations to members of the Armed Forces and
their families fairly and in a timely manner.
(b) Indemnified Department of Defense Contractor Defined.--
In this section, the term ``indemnified Department of Defense
contractor'' means a contractor that has been indemnified by
the Department of Defense against civil judgments or
liability for injuries, sickness, or death of members of the
Armed Forces related to their work with the contractor.
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