3.0.0 2139 2023-01-11T13:29:33Z 2023-01-11T13:29:33Z Senate S 2015-10-06 114 sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate Standing Reported by 2015-12-02T16:30:07Z Markup by 2015-10-07T15:08:34Z Referred to 2015-10-06T16:53:55Z S. Rept. 114-416 Commonsense Contracting Act of 2015 114 1444 HR 2015-03-18 Referred to the House Committee on Small Business. Related bill CRS Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 114 1481 HR 2016-04-19 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 390. Related bill CRS Related bill House National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 114 1735 HR 2015-10-22 Vetoed by President. Related bill CRS 2016-12-20 sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate By Senator Vitter from Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship filed written report under authority of the order of the Senate of 12/10/2016. Report No. 114-416. Floor 2016-12-20 By Senator Vitter from Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship filed written report under authority of the order of the Senate of 12/10/2016. Report No. 114-416. Committee 14900 9 Library of Congress sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee 2015-12-02 Senate Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 308. Calendars 2015-12-02 sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Reported by Senator Vitter with amendments. Without written report. Committee 2015-12-02 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Reported by Senator Vitter with amendments. Without written report. Committee 14000 9 Library of Congress sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee 2015-10-07 sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably. Committee 2015-10-06 sssb00 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. IntroReferral 2015-10-06 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress V000127 Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] David Vitter R LA N S001181 Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] Jeanne Shaheen D NH 2015-10-06 True 2016-02-17T15:08:11Z S. 2139, Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51255 As reported by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on December 2, 2015 Commerce Building construction Disability and paralysis Economic development Government lending and loan guarantees Minority and disadvantaged businesses Public contracts and procurement Small business Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation Women in business Commerce 00 2015-10-06 Introduced in Senate 2016-01-08T21:09:52Z Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015

This bill expresses the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, with respect to federal agency procurement, an auction between a group of offerors who compete against each other by submitting offers for a contract or task or delivery order with the ability to submit revised offers with lower prices throughout the course of the auction (reverse auction) may improve the federal government's procurement of commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses.

The Small Business Act is amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for certain Small Business Administration federal procurement contracts (covered contracts) for:

  • design and construction services;
  • goods purchased to protect federal employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians from bodily harm; or
  • goods or services other than these to be awarded based on factors other than price and technical responsibility, or if awarding the contract requires the contracting officer to conduct discussions with the offerors about their offer.
This prohibition applies specifically to any covered contract to be made under the procurement programs for women-owned small business concerns and for small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, as well as under the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program.

In the case of an award of a non-covered contract, a reverse auction may be used for the award only if specified decisions are made by a contracting officer trained on the appropriate use and supervision of reverse auctions for such contracts.

A federal agency may not award such a contract using a reverse auction if:

  • only one offer is received;
  • offerors do not have the ability to submit revised bids with lower prices throughout the course of the auction; or
  • at any time during the procurement process the federal agency misinforms an offeror about the price ranking of the last offer submitted by an offeror.
]]> 01 2015-12-02 Reported to Senate with amendment(s) 2016-02-04T20:32:49Z Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill expresses the sense of Congress that, when used appropriately, with respect to federal agency procurement, an auction between a group of offerors who compete against each other by submitting offers for a contract or task or delivery order with the ability to submit revised offers with lower prices throughout the course of the auction (reverse auction) may improve the federal government's procurement of commercially available commodities by increasing competition, reducing prices, and improving opportunities for small businesses.

The Small Business Act is amended to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for certain Small Business Administration (SBA) federal procurement contracts (covered contracts) for:

  • design and construction services;
  • goods purchased to protect federal employees, members of the Armed Forces, or civilians from bodily harm; or
  • goods or services other than these to be awarded based on factors other than price and technical responsibility, or if awarding the contract requires the contracting officer to conduct discussions with the offerors about their offer.
This prohibition applies specifically to any covered contract to be made under the procurement programs for women-owned small business concerns and for small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, as well as under the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program.

In the case of an award of a non-covered contract, a reverse auction may be used for the award only if specified decisions are made by a contracting officer trained on the appropriate use and supervision of reverse auctions for such contracts.

A federal agency may not award such a contract using a reverse auction if:

  • only one offer is received;
  • offerors do not have the ability to submit revised bids with lower prices throughout the course of the auction; or
  • at any time during the procurement process the federal agency misinforms an offeror about the price ranking of the last offer submitted by an offeror.

(Sec. 3) If another applicable federal law or regulation permits the acceptance of a bond from a surety not subject to certain federal requirements for surety corporations, and is based on a pledge of assets by the surety, the assets pledged by such surety shall:

  • consist of specified eligible obligations; and
  • be submitted to the government official required to approve or accept the bond, who shall deposit the obligations according to specified requirements.

The Small Business Investment Act of 1958 is amended with respect to any SBA guarantee or agreement to indemnify a surety under the Small Business Investment Program against loss from a breach of the terms of a bid bond, payment bond, performance bond, or ancillary bonds by a principal on any total work order or contract amount at the time of bond execution that does not exceed $6.5 million, as adjusted for inflation.

Increases from 70% to 90% of the loss incurred and paid by a surety authorized to issue bonds (subject to SBA guarantee) the SBA's maximum obligation to pay the surety under the guarantee or agreement to indemnify.]]>

Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 Display Title Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend the Small Business Act to prohibit the use of reverse auctions for the procurement of covered contracts. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 Short Titles as Reported to Senate Small Contractors Improve Competition Act of 2015 S Senate Reported to Senate 2015-12-02T05:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s2139rs/xml/BILLS-114s2139rs.xml Introduced in Senate 2015-10-06T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s2139is/xml/BILLS-114s2139is.xml 2016-12-20 By Senator Vitter from Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship filed written report under authority of the order of the Senate of 12/10/2016. Report No. 114-416. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.