[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3082 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3082

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require that 9 percent of 
   procurement contracts entered into by the Department of Veterans 
 Affairs be awarded to small business concerns owned by veterans, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2005

  Mr. Boozman (for himself, Ms. Herseth, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Burton of 
  Indiana, and Mr. Everett) introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require that 9 percent of 
   procurement contracts entered into by the Department of Veterans 
 Affairs be awarded to small business concerns owned by veterans, 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 ``Veteran-Owned Small Business 
Promotion Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REQUIREMENT FOR PARTICIPATION BY 
              SMALL BUSINESSES OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY VETERANS IN 9 
              PERCENT OF PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 81 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 8127. Contract requirement for small business concerns owned and 
              controlled by veterans
    ``(a) Requirement.--(1) The Department shall award not less than 9 
percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract awards 
by the Department for each fiscal year to small business concerns owned 
and controlled by veterans.
    ``(2) At least one-third of the total value of all awards made 
under paragraph (1) shall be awarded to small business concerns owned 
and controlled by veterans with service-connected disabilities.
    ``(b) Sole Source Contracts.--For purposes of meeting the 
requirement of subsection (a), and in accordance with this section, a 
contracting officer of the Department shall award a sole source 
contract to any small business concern owned and controlled by 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 veterans will submit offers for the 
        contracting opportunity;
            ``(2) the anticipated award price of the contract 
        (including options) will not exceed $5,000,000; and
            ``(3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, the 
        contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that 
        offers best value to the United States.
    ``(c) Use of Restricted Competition.--For purposes of meeting the 
requirements of subsection (a), and in accordance with this section, a 
contracting officer of the Department shall award contracts on the 
basis of competition restricted to small business concerns owned and 
controlled by veterans if the contracting officer has a reasonable 
expectation that 2 or more small business concerns owned and controlled 
by veterans will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair 
and reasonable price that offers best value to the United States.
    ``(d) Eligibility of Small Business Concerns.--To be eligible to be 
awarded a contract under this section, a small business concern shall 
be listed in the database of veteran-owned businesses maintained by the 
Secretary under subsection (e).
    ``(e) Database of Veteran-Owned Businesses.--(1) Subject to the 
succeeding provisions of this subsection, the Secretary shall maintain 
a database of small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans.
    ``(2) Information maintained in the database shall be submitted on 
a voluntary basis by such veterans.
    ``(3) In maintaining the database, the Secretary shall carry out 
only two verification functions, as follows:
            ``(A) Verification that each person listed in the database 
        is a veteran.
            ``(B) In the case of a veteran who indicates a service-
        connected disability, verification of the service-disabled 
        status of such veteran.
    ``(4) The Secretary shall make the database available to all 
Federal departments and agencies.
    ``(5) If the Secretary determines that the public dissemination of 
certain types of information maintained in the database is 
inappropriate, the Secretary shall take such steps as are necessary to 
maintain such types of information in a secure and confidential manner.
    ``(f) Enforcement Penalties for Misrepresentation.--Any small 
business concern that is determined by the Secretary to have 
misrepresented the status of that concern as a small business concern 
owned and controlled by veterans for purposes of this subsection, shall 
be subject to--
            ``(1) section 1001 of title 18; and
            ``(2) sections 3729 through 3733 of title 31.
    ``(g) Treatment of Businesses After Death of Veteran-Owner.--(1) If 
the death of a veteran causes a small business concern to be less than 
51 percent owned by one or more veterans, the surviving spouse of such 
veteran who inherits ownership rights in such small business concern 
shall be treated as if the surviving spouse were that veteran for the 
purpose of maintaining the status of the small business concern as a 
small business concern owned and controlled by veterans for the period 
described in paragraph (2).
    ``(2) The period referred to in paragraph (1) is the period 
beginning on the date on which the veteran dies and ending on the 
earliest of the following dates:
            ``(A) The date on which the surviving spouse remarries.
            ``(B) The date on which the surviving spouse gives up an 
        ownership interest in the small business concern.
            ``(C) The date that is ten years after the date of the 
        veteran's death.
    ``(h) Priority for Contracting Preferences.--
            ``(1) Priority among veteran-owned small businesses.--
        Preferences for awarding prime contract and subcontract awards 
        under this section shall be applied in the following order of 
        priority:
                    ``(A) Small business concerns owned and controlled 
                by veterans with service-connected disabilities.
                    ``(B) Small business concerns owned and controlled 
                by veterans.
            ``(2) Relationship to other contracting preferences.--A 
        procurement may not be made from any source on the basis of a 
        preference provided under any other provision of law if the 
        procurement would otherwise be made from a different source 
        under this section.
    ``(i) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `small business concern' has the same 
        meaning as under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        632).
            ``(2) The term `small business concern owned and controlled 
        by veterans' means a small business concern--
                    ``(A) not less than 51 percent of which is owned by 
                one or more veterans or, in the case of any publicly 
                owned business, not less than 51 percent of the stock 
                of which is owned by one or more veterans;
                    ``(B) the management and daily business operations 
                of which are controlled by one or more veterans or, in 
                the case of a veteran with service-connected total 
                disability that is permanent in nature, the spouse of 
                such veteran; and
                    ``(C) that is listed in the database of veteran-
                owned businesses maintained by the Secretary under 
                subsection (e).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
8126 the following new item:

``8127. Contract requirement for small business concerns owned and 
                            controlled by veterans.''.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CONTRACTING PRIORITY FOR 
              VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESSES.

    (a) Priority for Veteran-Owned Small Businesses.--Subchapter II of 
chapter 81 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 1, is 
further amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 8128. Contracting priority for small business concerns owned and 
              controlled by veterans.
    ``(a) In General.--In procuring goods and services pursuant to a 
contracting preference under this title or any other provision of law, 
the Secretary shall give priority to a small business concern owned and 
controlled by veterans, if such business concern also meets the 
requirements of that contracting preference.
    ``(b) Definition.--The term `small business concern owned and 
controlled by veterans' has the meaning given that term under section 
8127 of this title.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter, as amended by section 1, is further amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 8127 the following new item:

``8128. Contracting priority for small business concerns owned and 
                            controlled by veterans.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--The amendments made by this Act shall apply to 
contracts awarded during fiscal years beginning after September 30, 
2006.
    (b) Transition Rule.--In carrying out section 8127 of title 38, 
United States Code, as added by section 1(a), with respect to contracts 
awarded during fiscal year 2007, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall treat the reference to ``9 percent'' in subsection (a)(1) of such 
section as if it were a reference to ``6 percent''.
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