1.This Act may be cited as
the HUBZone Improvement Act of
2008
.
2.In this Act—
(1)the terms
Administration and Administrator mean the Small
Business Administration and the Administrator thereof, respectively;
(2)the terms
HUBZone and HUBZone small business concern have the
meanings given such terms in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
632); and
(3)the term
recertification means determining whether a business concern that
was previously determined to be a qualified HUBZone small business concern is a
qualified HUBZone small business concern under section 3(p)(5) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(5)).
3.
(a)The
purpose of this Act is to reform and improve the HUBZone program of the
Administration.
(b)Congress
finds the following:
(1)The HUBZone
program was established under the HUBZone Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–135; 111
Stat. 2627) to stimulate economic development through increased employment and
capital investment by providing Federal contracting preferences to small
business concerns in economically distressed communities or HUBZone
areas.
(2)According to the
Government Accountability Office—
(A)as of February
2008, 12,986 certified firms have participated in the HUBZone program since its
inception; and
(B)in fiscal year
2007, over 4,200 HUBZone small business concerns obtained approximately
$8,100,000,000 in Federal contracts.
(3)The Government
Accountability Office also identified numerous concerns with the HUBZone
program, including that—
(A)the
Administration verifies the information received by the Administration from
HUBZone small business concerns in limited instances and has limited assurances
that only eligible firms participated in the HUBZone program;
(B)by not obtaining
documentation and conducting site visits on a more routine basis during the
certification process, the Administration cannot be sure that only eligible
firms are part of the HUBZone program; and
(C)although the
examination process of the Administration involves a more extensive review of
documentation, the examination process cannot be relied upon to ensure that
only eligible firms participate in the HUBZone program because the examination
process involves only 5 percent of firms in any given year.
4.The Administrator
shall—
(1)as soon as is
practicable, correct and update the map that is used by the Administration to
identify HUBZones and implement procedures to ensure that the map is updated
with the most recently available data on a more frequent basis;
(2)develop and
implement guidance for determining whether an applicant is a qualified HUBZone
small business concern under section 3(p)(5) of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 632(p)(5)), including more routinely and consistently obtaining
supporting documentation from an applicant and conducting more frequent site
visits, as appropriate;
(3)establish a date
by which the Administrator shall eliminate the backlog of applications for
recertification;
(4)ensure that the
Administration eliminates the backlog described in paragraph (3) by the date
established under paragraph (3), using officers and employees of the
Administration or by entering into a contract with a private entity;
(5)establish and
implement a time period for completing a recertification; and
(6)develop measures
and implement plans to assess the effectiveness of the HUBZone program that
take into account—
(A)the economic
characteristics of the HUBZone; and
(B)contracts being
counted under multiple socioeconomic subcategories.
5.Not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall
submit to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate
and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives a report
regarding the implementation of this Act.