- in consultation with the Attorney General or the Counsel to the President, when appropriate, assist designated agency ethics officers in providing advice to current or former appointees regarding the application of the pledge; and
- in consultation with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President, adopt such rules or procedures as are necessary or appropriate:
- to carry out the foregoing responsibilities;
- to authorize limited exceptions to the lobbyist gift ban for circumstances that do not implicate the purposes of the ban;
- to make clear that no person shall have violated the lobbyist gift ban if the person properly disposes of a gift as provided by section 2635.206 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations;
- to ensure that existing rules and procedures for Government employees engaged in negotiations for future employment with private businesses that are affected by the employees’ official actions do not affect the integrity of the Government’s programs and operations;
- to ensure, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, that the requirement set forth in paragraph 6 of the pledge is honored by every employee of the executive branch;
- in consultation with the Director of OMB, report to the President on whether full compliance is being achieved with existing laws and regulations governing executive branch procurement lobbying disclosure. This report shall include recommendations on steps the executive branch can take to expand, to the fullest extent practicable, disclosure of both executive branch procurement lobbying and of lobbying for Presidential pardons. These recommendations shall include both immediate actions the executive branch can take and, if necessary, recommendations for legislation; and
- provide an annual public report on the administration of the pledge and this order.
(d) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics shall, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Counsel to the President, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, report to the President on steps the executive branch can take to expand to the fullest extent practicable the revolving door ban set forth in paragraph 5 of the pledge to all executive branch employees who are involved in the procurement process such that they may not for 2 years after leaving Government service lobby any Government official regarding a Government contract that was under their official responsibility in the last 2 years of their Government service. This report shall include both immediate actions the executive branch can take and, if necessary, recommendations for legislation.
(e) All pledges signed by appointees, and all waiver certifications with respect thereto, shall be filed with the head of the appointee’s agency for permanent retention in the appointee’s official personnel folder or equivalent folder.
Sec. 5. Enforcement. (a) The contractual, fiduciary, and ethical commitments in the pledge provided for herein are solely enforceable by the United States pursuant to this section by any legally available means, including debarment proceedings within any affected executive agency or judicial civil proceedings for declaratory, injunctive, or monetary relief.
(b) Any former appointee who is determined, after notice and hearing, by the duly designated authority within any agency, to have violated his or her pledge may be barred from lobbying any officer or employee of that agency for up to 5 years in addition to the time period covered by the pledge. The head of every executive agency shall, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Government Ethics, establish procedures to implement this subsection, which procedures shall include (but not be limited to) providing for fact-finding and investigation of possible violations
