II 110th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1702 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 27, 2007 Mr. Roberts (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Lieberman) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To promote employment of individuals with severe disabilities through Federal Government contracting and procurement processes, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Employer Work Incentive Act for Individuals with Severe Disabilities.

2.

Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to promote employment opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities, by requiring Federal agencies to offer incentives to Government contractors and subcontractors that employ substantial numbers of individuals with severe disabilities.

3.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)Of the 9,400,000 people with severe disabilities in the United States who want to work, only 26.1 percent are employed. (2)The Social Security trustees project that, by 2029, the Disability Trust Fund will be exhausted, 13 years before the Old Age and Survivors Trust Fund. (3)A June 2005 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report designated modernizing federal disability programs as a high-risk area, one that requires urgent attention and organizational transformation to ensure that programs function in the most economical, efficient and effective manner possible. Solutions to these problems are likely to require fundamental changes, including regulatory and legislative action. (4)If one percent of people with severe disabilities now receiving Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income payments were employed, the projected 10-year cost savings for the Treasury would equal $45,000,000,000. (5)It is appropriate for the Federal Government to offer incentives to government contractors who employ significant numbers of individuals with severe disabilities.

4.

Contractors employing individuals with severe disabilities

(a)

Contractors employing individuals with severe disabilities

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

43.

Contractors employing individuals with severe disabilities

(a)

Targets for the participation of businesses employing individuals with severe disabilities

(1)

Government-wide target

The Administrator shall annually establish a Government-wide target for procurement contracts awarded to businesses that employ individuals with severe disabilities. The Government-wide target shall be established at not less than 2.5 percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract procurements for each fiscal year. (2)

Executive agency targets

Each executive agency shall have an annual procurement target that presents, for that agency, the maximum practicable opportunity for businesses that employ individuals with severe disabilities to participate in the performance of contracts, and the performance of subcontracts to prime contracts, entered into by such agency. (3)

Cumulative target

The Administrator shall ensure that the cumulative procurement targets for executive agencies established pursuant to paragraph (2) meet or exceed the annual Government-wide procurement target established pursuant to paragraph (1). (4)

Database

The Administrator shall work with the Administrator of General Services to establish and maintain a database of eligible nonprofit and for profit business entities that qualify as businesses that employ individuals with severe disabilities. (b)

Incentives for the employment of individuals with severe disabilities

(1)

Regulations

(A)

In general

The Administrator shall promulgate regulations in the Federal Acquisition Regulation providing that the participation of businesses that employ individuals with severe disabilities or the participation of prime contractors that subcontract to such businesses shall be an evaluation factor in all contracts awarded by executive agencies. The Administrator shall ensure that this evaluation factor is given sufficient weight to allow all agencies to be in compliance with the 2.5 percent contracting targets under subsection (a). (B)

Documentation requirement

The regulations promulgated under subparagraph (A) shall provide that an executive agency awarding a contract may not evaluate a business as a business that employs individuals with severe disabilities unless the business provides to such agency— (i)documentation that the business currently qualifies as a business that employs individuals with severe disabilities; (ii)documentation that the business has a history of hiring individuals with severe disabilities, a letter of commitment stating that the business will meet the employment criteria provided under subsection (e)(1)(B) within 1 year after the starting date of the contract, and a plan for meeting such criteria; or (iii)documentation that the employer currently employs at least one individual with severe disabilities, a letter of commitment stating that the business will meet the employment criteria provided under subsection (e)(1)(B) within 1 year after the starting date of the contract, and a plan for meeting such criteria. (C)

Consequences of failure to qualify for advantage

The failure of a business that is awarded a contract (either as a prime contractor or a subcontractor) as a result of a preference given pursuant to subparagraph (A) to meet the employment criteria provided under subsection (e)(1)(B) within 1 year after the starting date of such contract shall result in the termination of such contract, unless a one-time waiver is submitted and approved, for good cause, before the end of such time period. (c)

Coordination between agencies and interested groups

The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training shall be responsible for seeking and obtaining input from the executive agencies responsible for Federal procurement and from individuals, groups, associations, and disability organizations regarding the effectiveness, outreach, utilization, and advancement of the goals and purposes of the employment and contracting program under this section. (d)

Regional assistance centers

The Secretary of Labor shall utilize existing Regional Assistance Centers to provide assistance to businesses in qualifying for the incentives established pursuant to subsection (b). The Regional Assistance Centers shall be headquartered in the Department of Labor's regional workforce offices operated under the authority of the Secretary. (e)

Definitions

In this section: (1)The term business that employs individuals with severe disabilities means an eligible nonprofit or for-profit business entity that— (A)demonstrates that it has established an integrated employment setting, meaning that the employment setting for severely disabled employees is similar to the employment setting for non-disabled employees performing similar tasks and that severely disabled employees are not unnecessarily physically separated from non-disabled or other disabled employees in their employment settings; (B)beginning not later than 1 year after the starting date of the contract for which the Federal procurement advantage was utilized, employs individuals with severe disabilities— (i)in not less than 25 percent of the full-time equivalent positions of the business, if the business has 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees; (ii)in not less than 18 percent of the full-time equivalent positions, if the business has between 51 and 250 full-time equivalent employees; or (iii)in not less than 15 percent of the full-time equivalent positions, if the business has more than 250 full-time positions; and (C)(i)pays wages to each of the individuals with severe disabilities at not less than the applicable rate described in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)), regardless of whether the individuals are engaged in supported employment, or training, under a contract with an executive agency or a program that receives Federal funds; and (ii)does not employ any individual with a severe disability pursuant to a special certificate issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)); and (D)makes contributions for at least 50 percent of the total cost of the annual premiums for health insurance coverage for its employees. (2)(A)The term individual with a severe disability means an individual who is a disabled beneficiary (as defined in section 1148(k)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–19(k)(2)) or an individual who would be considered to be such a disabled beneficiary but for having income or assets in excess of the income or asset eligibility limits established under title II or XVI of the Social Security Act, respectively (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq., 1381 et seq.). (B)The term individuals with severe disabilities means more than 1 individual with a severe disability.

. (b)

Clerical amendment

The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the end the following new item: Sec. 43. Contractors employing individuals with severe disabilities. .

5.

Reporting

Not later than August 31 of each year, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training shall submit to Congress an annual report on progress made in achieving the targets established under section 43 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as added by section 4.