03
Federal Contract & Defense Audit Act
Ban no-bid contracts and mandate public, line-item disclosure for all federal infrastructure, defense, and tech contracts, including audits of private equity subsidies.
Passage watch
Proposed · not introduced
01 · Pending
Introduced
A sponsor files the legislation and an official bill record is created.
02 · Pending
Committee review
The relevant committee considers the legislation.
03 · Pending
House passage
The House approves the bill or the legislative vehicle carrying its provisions.
04 · Pending
Senate passage
The Senate approves the bill or its legislative vehicle.
05 · Pending
Final text agreed
Both chambers approve the same final text.
06 · Pending
Becomes law
The legislation is signed into law or enacted over a veto.
Latest progress
This Student Plan proposal has not been introduced. No congressional passage milestones are complete.
Plan baseline · · Not an official Congress update
Official record · awaiting introduction
No verified Congress.gov record is linked. H.R. numbers in the blueprint are proposed labels, not confirmed bill identifiers. Official action updates are unavailable until an introduced bill is matched.
Congress.govWhat the bill does
- 1
Public, line-item disclosure for all federal infrastructure, defense, and tech contracts.
- 2
Automatic independent Inspector General audits for contractors exceeding budget by 20%.
- 3
Automatic audits for contractors missing statutory safety benchmarks.
- 4
Ban non-emergency no-bid procurement and require public line-item disclosure of contract costs, including private-equity-owned federal contractors.
- 5
Impose a 50% federal windfall excise tax on all net profits and executive bonuses from federal defense, infrastructure, or tech contracts exceeding their initial baseline budget by more than 20% or failing a statutory safety benchmark.
- 6
Disallow all corporate interest and M&A tax deductions for private-equity-owned federal contractors that refuse public line-item cost disclosure.
- 7
Automatically reduce unobligated administrative budget authority by 10% for any agency component that fails an annual financial audit.
Why it matters
The Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse made publication of infrastructure contracts a central demand of Serbia's student movement. Engineering and law students sought every page of the renovation agreements so the public could scrutinize procurement, costs, and safety rather than accept secrecy. The U.S. adaptation applies that transparency principle to federal defense, infrastructure, and technology spending: no-bid procurement, cost overruns, failed audits, and missed safety benchmarks should trigger independent scrutiny rather than continued unchecked subsidies. It connects fiscal conservatives, progressives, technical students, union machinists, and whistleblowers around accountable public spending and safe public infrastructure.
The legislative blueprint
Phase 1 — Day-One Subpoena Activation & House Floor Stampede (January–Spring 2029)
Instant Investigative Teeth via H.Res. 5 (No Senate Needed)
On January 3, 2029, the proposed 25-member Accountability Caucus uses Speaker-election leverage to seek a 5-majority + 5-minority House Oversight subpoena trigger in the House Rules Package. The proposed mechanism would let those committee members issue binding procurement subpoenas to defense, tech, or private-equity federal contractors without the Committee Chair's or Speaker's permission. This is a proposed House rule, not an existing or exercised subpoena power.
Rules Package Floor Lock
Seek a pre-scheduled, standalone, unamendable roll-call vote under Section 5 ("Orders of Business") of H.Res. 5 before April 15, 2029.
Fiscal-Hawk + Progressive Convergence (370+ Vote Target)
Unite fiscal-conservative Republicans and anti-corporate Democrats around non-emergency no-bid bans, public line-item disclosure, and automatic Inspector General audits at the 20% overrun threshold or a missed safety benchmark. The blueprint targets 370+ House votes, followed by Senate Rule XIV calendar placement. Neither the vote nor placement has occurred; calendar placement would not itself overcome a filibuster.
Phase 2 — Bypassing the 60-Vote Senate Filibuster (Two-Track Pincer)
Track A — 51-Vote Budget Reconciliation (The Overrun Clawback)
Use the proposed 25-vote House pivot to seek the Cost-Overrun Windfall Tax and Private-Equity Subsidy Disallowance in annual reconciliation legislation. The fiscal design taxes 50% of contract net profits and executive bonuses when initial baseline costs are exceeded by more than 20% or a statutory safety benchmark fails, and removes interest and M&A deductions from private-equity-owned contractors refusing public line-item disclosure. The 10% reduction targets only unobligated administrative budget authority of agency components failing annual financial audits. These are proposed fiscal measures, subject to Byrd Rule and legal review, not current IRS enforcement powers.
Track B — Must-Pass NDAA & Highway Reauthorization Weld
Using its proposed 3 blocking seats on the House Rules Committee, the Caucus withholds a floor rule for the NDAA and Surface Transportation Reauthorization unless the full statutory text is included in the base bills. If conferees remove the no-bid ban or 20% audit trigger, the proposed 25-member bloc opposes the Previous Question and blocks the final conference report. This is a legislative leverage strategy, not a guarantee of enactment.
Phase 3 — Appropriations Enforcement & Forensic Campus Audits
Holman Rule & Defense/THUD Limitation Riders
Using proposed Holman Rule leverage, the Caucus seeks a rider in Defense and Transportation-HUD (THUD) appropriations: "None of the funds made available by this Act may be obligated or expended on any sole-source, no-bid contract, nor disbursed to any contractor or private-equity subsidiary that has exceeded baseline contract costs by 20 percent or failed a statutory safety benchmark without publishing a full, unredacted line-item Inspector General audit." This proposed rider is broader than the non-emergency statutory no-bid ban and would require passage and legal review.
The Novi Sad Method — Live Forensic Audits
If a Senator on Armed Services or Appropriations seeks to protect a contractor from scrutiny, the blueprint calls for Statewide Megaplenums to bring civil engineering, computer science, and forensic accounting students together with union machinists and whistleblowers. They would publish county-by-county video audits documenting defective parts, overcharged infrastructure, or private-equity buyouts and relevant donor ties. This is proposed accountability work, not a claim that specific wrongdoing has been established.