[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1460 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1460

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit the use of education 
  benefits under such title for certain entrepreneurship courses, to 
 permit veterans enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation program under 
chapter 31 of such title to have self-employment as a vocational goal, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2003

 Mr. Renzi (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Evans, Mr. Brown 
    of South Carolina, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Beauprez, and Mr. Michaud) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Small Business, 
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 amend title 38, United States Code, to permit the use of education 
  benefits under such title for certain entrepreneurship courses, to 
 permit veterans enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation program under 
chapter 31 of such title to have self-employment as a vocational goal, 
                        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 ``Veterans Entrepreneurship Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR STATE APPROVING AGENCIES TO APPROVE CERTAIN 
              ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSES.

    (a) Approval of Entrepreneurship Courses.--Section 3675 of title 
38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(c)(1) A State approving agency may approve the entrepreneurship 
courses offered by a qualified provider of entrepreneurship courses.
    ``(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term `entrepreneurship 
course' means a non-degree, non-credit course of business education 
that enables or assists a person to start or enhance a small business 
enterprise.
    ``(3) Subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) 
do not apply to--
            ``(A) an entrepreneurship course offered by a qualified 
        provider of entrepreneurship courses; and
            ``(B) a qualified provider of entrepreneurship courses by 
        reason of such provider offering one or more entrepreneurship 
        courses.''.
    (b) Business Owners Not Treated as Already Qualified.--Section 3471 
of such title is amended by inserting before the last sentence the 
following: ``The Secretary shall not treat a person as already 
qualified for the objective of a program of education offered by a 
qualified provider of entrepreneurship courses solely because such 
person is the owner or operator of a business.''.
    (c) Inclusion of Entrepreneurship Courses in Definition of Program 
of Education.--Subsection (b) of section 3452 of such title is amended 
by adding at the end the following: ``Such term also includes any 
course, or combination of courses, offered by a qualified provider of 
entrepreneurship courses.''
    (d) Inclusion of Qualified Provider of Entrepreneurship Courses in 
Definition of Educational Institution.--Subsection (c) of section 3452 
of such title is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Such 
term also includes any qualified provider of entrepreneurship 
courses.''.
    (e) Definition of Qualified Provider of Entrepreneurship Courses.--
Section 3452 of such title is further amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(h) The term `qualified provider of entrepreneurship courses' 
means--
            ``(1) a small business development center described in 
        section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648), and
            ``(2) the National Veterans Business Development 
        Corporation (established under section 33 of such Act (15 
        U.S.C. 657c)) insofar as the Corporation offers or sponsors an 
        entrepreneurship course (as defined in section 3675(c)(2) of 
        this title).''.
    (f) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to courses approved by State approving agencies after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT AS A VOCATIONAL GOAL FOR 
              VETERANS RECEIVING VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION.

    Section 3104 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Any person entitled to a rehabilitation program under this 
chapter may establish self-employment as a vocational goal without 
regard to any requirement that the person be unemployable.''.

SEC. 4. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND 
              CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.

    The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by 
redesignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after section 
35 the following new section:

``SEC. 36. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND 
              CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.

    ``(a) Sole Source Contracts.--In accordance with this section and 
not withstanding any other provision of law, a contracting officer may 
award a sole source contract to any small business concern owned and 
controlled by service-disabled veterans if--
            ``(1) such concern is determined to be a responsible 
        contractor with respect to performance of such contract 
        opportunity and the contracting officer does not have a 
        reasonable expectation that 2 or more small business concerns 
        owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans will submit 
        offers for the contracting opportunity;
            ``(2) the anticipated award price of the contract 
        (including options) will not exceed--
                    ``(A) $5,000,000, in the case of a contract 
                opportunity assigned a standard industrial 
                classification code for manufacturing; or
                    ``(B) $3,000,000, in the case of any other contract 
                opportunity; and
            ``(3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, the 
        contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price.
    ``(b) Restricted Competition.--In accordance with this section and 
not withstanding any other provision of law, a contracting officer may 
award contracts on the basis of competition restricted to small 
business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans if 
the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that not less than 
2 small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled 
veterans will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair 
market price.
    ``(c) Appeal by Administrator.--Not later than 5 days after the 
date on which the Administration is notified of a contracting officer's 
decision not to award a contract opportunity under this section to a 
small business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled 
veterans, the Administrator may notify the contracting officer of the 
intent to appeal the contracting officer's decision, and within 15 days 
of such date the Administrator may file a written request for 
reconsideration of the contracting officer's decision with the 
Secretary of the department or agency head.
    ``(d) Relationship to Other Contracting Preferences.--A procurement 
may not be made from a source on the basis of a preference provided 
under subsection (a) or (b) if the procurement would otherwise be made 
from a different source under section 4124 or 4125 of title 18, United 
States Code, or the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46 et seq.).
    ``(e) Enforcement; Penalties.--Rules similar to the rules of 
paragraphs (5) and (6) of section 8(m) shall apply for purposes of this 
section.
    ``(f) Contracting Officer.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`contracting officer' has the meaning given such term in section 
27(f)(5) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 
423(f)(5)).''.
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