[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1324 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1324
To require Federal agencies to follow certain procedures with respect
to the bundling of procurement contract requirements, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 2001
Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Hall of Ohio, Mr.
Boehner, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Hobson, Mr. Udall of New
Mexico, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, Mr. Gonzalez, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr.
Udall of Colorado, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Phelps,
Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Millender-McDonald,
Mr. Baird, and Mr. Wynn) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the
Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require Federal agencies to follow certain procedures with respect
to the bundling of procurement contract requirements, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Contract Equity Act
of 2001''.
SEC. 2. PROCEDURES FOR BUNDLING CONTRACTS.
(a) Procedures for Bundling of Contracts.--Notwithstanding any
other law, the following procedures shall apply to a solicitation that
is issued by an executive department or agency for the procurement of
goods or services and that the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration determines would result in the displacement of any
small-business concern:
(1) Submission of draft solicitation.--The head of the
department or agency shall forward, at least 20 days prior to
the publication of any solicitation for goods or services in
Commerce Business Daily (or its electronic successor), a draft
of such solicitation to the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration, for determination by the Administrator whether
the draft solicitation would result in a bundled contract.
(2) Determination.--Not later than 10 days after the date
of receipt of the draft solicitation, the Administrator shall
make the determination described in paragraph (1) and submit
such determination to the head of the department or agency. If
the Administrator concludes that the draft solicitation would
result in a bundled contract, the head of the department or
agency may not publish the solicitation until the department or
agency head undertakes market research for the proposed
solicitation as described in section 15(e) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(e)) and the regulations promulgated
thereunder on December 27, 1999.
(3) Study.--Not later than 45 days after the date that the
Administrator has made the determination under paragraph (2),
the head of the department or agency shall submit to the
Administrator a study to support the proposed bundled contract
which demonstrates measurable savings as set forth in the
regulations implementing the Small Business Reauthorization Act
of 1997 (Public Law 105-135; 111 Stat. 2592) (including the
amendments made by that Act), and that the quality of the goods
or services to be procured under the draft solicitation are
equal in quality to the goods or services currently obtained by
the head of the department or agency.
(4) Review of study.--Not later than 10 days after the
submission of the study, the Administrator shall determine
whether the study meets the standards set forth in the Small
Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 (including the amendments
made by that Act) and the regulations promulgated thereunder on
December 27, 1999. The Administrator shall specify in writing
any deficiencies in the study and proposed changes to the draft
solicitation (including, but not limited to, the reduction in
size or scope of the draft solicitation) so as to comply with
the requirements in such Act and regulations. If the head of
the agency does not concur in a determination of the
Administrator under this paragraph, the head of the agency may
appeal the determination to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, who shall either grant or deny the
appeal within 5 days. Any determination by the Director shall
be final. The Director may delegate his duties set forth in
this paragraph to a subordinate official within the Office of
Management and Budget appointed by the President with the
advice and consent of the Senate.
(5) Publication of solicitation.--If the Administrator
determines that the study meets the standards set forth in the
Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 and the regulations
promulgated thereunder, and that the goals described in section
15(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(2)) for
the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which the draft
solicitation was forwarded to the Administrator under paragraph
(1) have been met, the head of the department or agency may
publish the solicitation in Commerce Business Daily (or its
electronic successor).
(6) Revision of solicitation.--If the Administrator
determines that the study does not meet such standards, the
head of the department or agency shall revise the solicitation
and perform a new study pursuant to the procedures set forth in
paragraphs (1) through (3).
(b) Waiver.--
(1) In general.--The requirements of subsection (a) may be
waived by the Administrator if the Administrator determines
that an unusual or unexpected exigency justifies a waiver.
(2) Appeal.--The head of an agency may appeal any waiver
request to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget,
who shall either grant or deny the appeal within 5 days. Any
determination by the Director shall be final. The Director may
delegate the duties set forth in this paragraph to a
subordinate official within the Office of Management and Budget
appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the
Senate.
(c) Definitions.--In this section, the term--
(1) ``bundled contract'' means any contract, irrespective
of benefit or dollar value, that displaces two or more small-
business concerns; and
(2) ``small-business concern'' has the meaning given that
term in section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
632(a)).
(d) Regulations.--The Administrator shall promulgate regulations to
implement this section according to the following procedures:
(1) Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Administrator shall publish, for notice and
comment, proposed rules to implement this section.
(2) The Administrator shall receive comments on the
proposed rules for 45 days. At the close of the comment period,
the Administrator shall consult with the department or agency
head on the promulgation of final rules.
(3) If no final rule has been published within 120 days
after the effective date of this Act, the regulations published
in proposed form pursuant to paragraph (1) shall become final.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS RELATED TO BUNDLING OF CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.
Section 3(o) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(o)) is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, regardless of the
terminology that the contracting agency uses to refer to such a
contract and regardless of whether such agency has conducted a
study of the effects of the solicitation for the contract on
civilian or military personnel of the United States'' before
the period at the end; and
(2) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by striking ``The term'' and inserting
``Regardless of the terminology that the contracting
agency uses to refer to such a consolidation, the
term''; and
(B) by inserting ``or multiple contracts, or the
creation of any new procurement requirement that
permits such consolidation,'' after ``solicitation of
offers for a single contract''.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON BUNDLING OF CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS BY AGENCIES
THAT FAIL TO MEET CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS PROCUREMENT
PARTICIPATION GOALS.
(a) Prohibition on Bundling of Contract Requirements.--
(1) In General.--Section 15(e) of the Small Business Act
(15 U.S.C. 644(e)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(5) Restriction on bundling of contract requirements.--
``(A) In general.--If a report submitted under
subsection (h)(2) includes a finding that an agency
failed, in any fiscal year covered by the report, to
attain any goal described in subparagraph (B), the
agency may not award a contract that is determined by
the Administrator to be a bundled contract under
section 2 or solicit offers for a bundled contract for
the duration of the fiscal year beginning on the first
October 1 after the submission of the report.
``(B) Goals to be met.--For the purposes of
subparagraph (A), an agency shall be required to meet
the each goal described in subsection (g)(2) that
relates to any of the following:
``(i) small business concerns generally;
``(ii) small business concerns owned and
controlled by socially and economically
disadvantaged individuals; and
``(iii) small business concerns owned and
controlled by women.''.
(2) Applicability.--The amendment made by paragraph (1)
shall apply only to--
(A) solicitations of offers to contract issued on
or after October 1, 2001; and
(B) contracts awarded pursuant to such
solicitations.
(b) Deadlines Relating to Determination of Goal Attainment.--
Section 15(h) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(h)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2) in the first sentence, by inserting
``by not later than December 31 of each year'' before the
period at the end; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) By not later than September 15 of each year, the
Administrator of General Services shall transmit to the Administration
a preliminary report, for the period beginning on October 1 and ending
on August 31 of the previous year, containing data and information,
obtained from the Federal Procurement Data System, demonstrating the
extent to which each agency met each goal set forth in subsection
(g)(2). Not later than October 15 of each year, the Administrator of
General Services shall transmit to the Administration a final report
containing such data for the previous year.''.
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