[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1873 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1873

   To reauthorize the programs and activities of the Small Business 
    Administration relating to procurement, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2007

    Mr. Braley of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Chabot, and Ms. Velazquez) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To reauthorize the programs and activities of the Small Business 
    Administration relating to procurement, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business 
Fairness in Contracting Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
                       TITLE I--CONTRACT BUNDLING

Sec. 101. Definitions of bundling of contract requirements and related 
                            terms.
Sec. 102. Justification.
Sec. 103. Appeals.
Sec. 104. Third-party review.
    TITLE II--INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTS AND 
                              SUBCONTRACTS

Sec. 201. Small business goal.
Sec. 202. Include overseas contracts in small business goal.
Sec. 203. Annual goal negotiation.
Sec. 204. Goal reasonableness.
Sec. 205. Usage of small companies in goal achievement.
Sec. 206. Making small businesses the first choice.
Sec. 207. Subcontracting goals.
Sec. 208. Subcontracting enforcement.
Sec. 209. National database.
Sec. 210. Review of subcontracting plans.
             TITLE III--PROTECTION OF TAXPAYERS FROM FRAUD

Sec. 301. Small business size protest notification.
Sec. 302. Review of national registry.
Sec. 303. Recertification of compliance with size standards and 
                            registration with Central Contractor 
                            Registry.
               TITLE IV--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations.

                       TITLE I--CONTRACT BUNDLING

SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED 
              TERMS.

    Section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632) is amended by 
amending subsection (o) to read as follows:
    ``(o) Definitions of Bundling of Contract Requirements and Related 
Terms.--For purposes of this Act:
            ``(1) Bundled contract.--The term `bundled contract' means 
        a contract or order that is entered into to meet requirements 
        that are consolidated in a bundling of contract requirements 
        without regard to its designation by the procuring agency or 
        whether a study of the effects of the solicitation on civilian 
        or military personnel has been made.
            ``(2) Bundling of contract requirements.--The term 
        `bundling of contract requirements' means the use of any 
        bundling methodology to satisfy 2 or more requirements for new 
        or existing goods or services, including any services for 
        construction, that is likely to be unsuitable for award to a 
        small business concern due to--
                    ``(A) the diversity, size, or specialized nature of 
                the elements of the performance specified;
                    ``(B) the aggregate dollar value of the anticipated 
                award;
                    ``(C) the geographical dispersion of the contract 
                or order performance sites; or
                    ``(D) any combination of the factors described in 
                subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C).
            ``(3) Bundling methodology.--The term `bundling 
        methodology' means--
                    ``(A) a solicitation to obtain offers for a single 
                contract or order, or a multiple award contract or 
                order;
                    ``(B) a solicitation of offers for the issuance of 
                a task or a delivery order under an existing single or 
                multiple award contract or order; or
                    ``(C) the creation of any new procurement 
                requirement that permits a consolidation of contract or 
                order requirements''.

SEC. 102. JUSTIFICATION.

    Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``is in a quantity or estimated dollar 
        value the magnitude of which renders small business prime 
        contract participation unlikely'' and inserting ``would now be 
        combined with other requirements for goods and services'';
            (2) by striking ``(2) why delivery schedules'' and 
        inserting ``(2) the names, addresses and size of the incumbent 
        contract holders; (3) a description of the industries that 
        might be interested in bidding on the contract requirements; 
        (4) the number of small businesses listed in the industry 
        categories that could be excluded from future bidding if the 
        contract is combined or packaged; (5) why delivery schedules'';
            (3) by striking ``(3) why the proposed acquisition'' and 
        inserting ``(6) why the proposed acquisition'';
            (4) by striking ``(4) why construction'' and inserting 
        ``(7) why construction'';
            (5) by striking ``(5) why the agency'' and inserting ``(8) 
        why the agency''; and
            (6) by inserting after ``prime contracting opportunities.'' 
        the following: ``If no notification of the procurement and 
        accompanying statement is received, but the Administrator 
        determines that there is cause to believe the contract combines 
        requirements or discrete construction projects or includes 
        unjustified bundling, then the Administrator can demand that 
        such a statement of work goods or services be completed by the 
        procurement activity and sent to the Procurement Center 
        Representative and the solicitation process postponed for at 
        least 10 days to allow the Administrator to review the 
        statement and make recommendations as described in this section 
        before the procurement is continued.''

SEC. 103. APPEALS.

    Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``If a proposed procurement includes in its 
        statement'' and inserting ``If a proposed procurement would 
        negatively affect one or more small business concerns, or if a 
        proposed procurement includes in its statement''; and
            (2) by inserting before ``Whenever the Administrator and 
        the contracting procurement agency fail to agree,'' the 
        following: ``If a small business concern would be adversely 
        affected, directly or indirectly, by the procurement as 
        proposed, and that small business concern or a trade 
        association on behalf of that small business concern so 
        requests, the Administrator may, in the Administrator's 
        discretion, take action to further the interests of that small 
        business concern.''.

SEC. 104. THIRD-PARTY REVIEW.

    Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(a)) is 
amended by striking the sentence beginning ``Whenever the Administrator 
and the contracting procurement agency fail to agree,'' and inserting 
the following: ``Whenever the Administrator and the contracting 
procurement agency fail to agree, the Administrator shall submit the 
matter to the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy 
within the Office of Management and Budget, who shall render his 
decision regarding the matter not later than 10 days after receiving 
the matter.''.

    TITLE II--INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTS AND 
                              SUBCONTRACTS

SEC. 201. SMALL BUSINESS GOAL.

    Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``23 percent'' and inserting ``30 percent''.

SEC. 202. INCLUDE OVERSEAS CONTRACTS IN SMALL BUSINESS GOAL.

    Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) The procurement goals required by this subsection apply to 
all procurement contracts, without regard to whether the contract is 
for work within or outside the United States.''.

SEC. 203. ANNUAL GOAL NEGOTIATION.

    Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``The President shall annually establish 
Government-wide goals for procurement contracts'' and inserting ``The 
President shall before the close of each fiscal year establish new 
Government-wide procurement goals for the following fiscal year for 
procurement contracts''.

SEC. 204. GOAL REASONABLENESS.

    Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``Notwithstanding the Government-wide goal, each 
agency shall have an annual goal'' and inserting ``Each agency shall 
have an annual goal, not lower than the Government-wide goal,''.

SEC. 205. USAGE OF SMALL COMPANIES IN GOAL ACHIEVEMENT.

    Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(4) For purposes of this subsection and subsection (h), a small 
business concern shall be counted toward one additional category goal 
only, even if that small business concern otherwise qualifies under 
more than one category goal. In this paragraph, the term `category 
goal' means a goal described in paragraph (2).''.

SEC. 206. MAKING SMALL BUSINESSES THE FIRST CHOICE.

    Section 15(j) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(j)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or order'' after ``Each 
                contract''; and
                    (B) by striking ``$100,000'' and insert ``the 
                Simplified Acquisition Threshold''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ``subsection (a) of 
        section 8'' and inserting ``section 8, 31, or 36''.

SEC. 207. SUBCONTRACTING GOALS.

    Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:.
    ``(12) In carrying out this subsection, the Administrator shall 
require each prime contractor to report small business subcontract 
usage at all tiers based on the percentage of the total dollar amount 
of the contract award.''.

SEC. 208. SUBCONTRACTING ENFORCEMENT.

    Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(13) In carrying out this subsection, the Administrator shall 
develop and maintain a password-protected database that will enable the 
Administration to assist small businesses in marketing to large 
corporations that have not achieved their small business goals.''.

SEC. 209. NATIONAL DATABASE.

    The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall ensure 
that whenever a small business enters its information in the Central 
Contractor Registry, or any successor to that registry, the 
Administrator contacts that business within 30 days regarding the 
likelihood of Federal contracting opportunities. The Administrator 
shall ensure that each small business that so registers is, for each 
industry code entered by that small business, provided with the total 
dollar value of government contract awards to small businesses for that 
industry.

SEC. 210. REVIEW OF SUBCONTRACTING PLANS.

    Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this 
section, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall, 
after an opportunity for notice and comment, prescribe regulations to 
govern the Administrator's review of subcontracting plans, including 
standards for determining good faith effort in compliance with the 
subcontracting plans.

             TITLE III--PROTECTION OF TAXPAYERS FROM FRAUD

SEC. 301. SMALL BUSINESS SIZE PROTEST NOTIFICATION.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall work with appropriate Federal agencies to ensure 
that whenever a business fails to prevail in a protest over size, a 
notification shall be placed adjacent to that concern's listing in the 
Central Contractor Registry (or any successor to that registry).
    (b) Comptroller General Certification.--The Administrator shall, in 
making any report of small business goal accomplishments, qualify the 
accomplishments as ``estimated'', until the Administrator obtains from 
the Comptroller General the Comptroller General's certification that 
there are no data integrity issues with respect to the national 
repository of contract award information known as Federal Procurement 
Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), or any successor to that 
repository.
    (c) Awards to Large Businesses.--The Inspector General of the Small 
Business Administration shall, on an annual basis, submit to Congress a 
report on the number and dollar value of contract awards that were 
coded as awards to small business concerns but in fact were made to 
businesses that did not qualify as small business concerns.

SEC. 302. REVIEW OF NATIONAL REGISTRY.

    The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall 
ensure, on a biannual basis, that an independent audit is performed of 
the Central Contractor Registry, or any successor to that registry, and 
that the Dynamic Small Business Search portion of the registry, or any 
successor to that portion of the registry, is purged of any businesses 
that are not in fact small businesses. If a business that has been so 
purged attempts, while not in fact a small business, to re-register, 
that business is subject to debarment as a Federal contractor and is 
further subject to penalties outlined in section 16 of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 645).

SEC. 303. RECERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH SIZE STANDARDS AND 
              REGISTRATION WITH CENTRAL CONTRACTOR REGISTRY.

    Section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) Recertification.--
            ``(A) In general.--If a business concern is awarded a 
        contract because of a standard by which it is determined to be 
        a small business concern, and the business concern is close to 
        exceeding that standard at the time the award is made, then the 
        business concern must, annually after the date of the award, 
        recertify to the agency awarding the contract whether it meets 
        that standard.
            ``(B) `Close to exceeding'.--For purposes of subparagraph 
        (A), a business concern is close to exceeding--
                    ``(i) a number-of-employees standard if the number 
                of employees of the business concern is 95 percent or 
                more of the maximum number of employees allowed under 
                the standard; and
                    ``(ii) a dollar-volume-of-business standard if the 
                dollar volume of business is 80 percent or more of the 
                maximum dollar volume allowed under the standard.
    ``(6) Registry.--For a business concern to be awarded a contract 
because of a standard by which it is determined to be a small business 
concern, the business concern must, annually after the end of the 
fiscal year used by the business concern, update its listing in the 
Central Contractor Registry.''.

               TITLE IV--AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 401. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
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