[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.''.
                                 <all>