[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2568 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2568

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and transparency in 
               contracting with small business concerns.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2009

  Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Gene Green of 
  Texas, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Cardoza, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. 
Filner, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition to the 
   Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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 the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and transparency in 
               contracting with small business concerns.

    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 ``Fairness and Transparency in 
Contracting Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the terms ``Administration'' and ``Administrator'' mean 
        the Small Business Administration and the Administrator 
        thereof, respectively;
            (2) the term ``parent company'', relating to a business 
        concern, means a person other than an individual that owns not 
        less than 51 percent of that business concern;
            (3) the terms ``small business concern'', ``small business 
        concern owned and controlled by veterans'', ``small business 
        concern owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans'', 
        and ``small business concern owned and controlled by women'' 
        have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), as amended by this Act; and
            (4) the term ``small business concern owned and controlled 
        by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals'' has 
        the meaning given that term in section 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)).

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to modify the definitions relating to 
whether a business concern qualifies as a small business concern, to 
establish additional requirements that ensure that no publically traded 
business concern, subsidiary of a publically traded business concern, 
foreign-owned business concern, or subsidiary of a foreign-owned 
business concern is considered a small business concern for the purpose 
of Federal Government contracting and subcontracting, including for 
procurement goals.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN AND STATUS REVIEW.

    Section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) Independently Owned and Operated.--
            ``(A) In general.--In this subsection, the term 
        `independently owned and operated' does not include a business 
        concern--
                    ``(i) that is--
                            ``(I) an issuer of a class of securities 
                        registered or that is required to be registered 
                        pursuant to section 12 of the Securities 
                        Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) or that is 
                        required to file reports pursuant to section 
                        15(d) of that Act (15 U.S.C. 78o(d)); or
                            ``(II) owned by an issuer of a class of 
                        securities registered or that is required to be 
                        registered pursuant to section 12 of the 
                        Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) 
                        or that is required to file reports pursuant to 
                        section 15(d) of that Act (15 U.S.C. 78o(d)); 
                        or
                    ``(ii) more than 50 percent of which is owned, 
                directly or indirectly, by one or more individuals that 
                are not United States citizens.
            ``(B) Entities.--In determining ownership of a business 
        concern, any interest in the business concern that is owned by 
        a person that is not an individual (including a corporation, 
        partnership, estate or trust) shall be considered owned 
        proportionately by or for the individuals that own that 
        person.''.

SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall notify the head of each 
Federal department or agency regarding this Act and the amendments made 
by this Act.
    (b) To Contractors.--Not later than 6 months after receiving notice 
under subsection (a), the head of a Federal department or agency shall 
notify any contractor of that department or agency regarding this Act 
and the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 6. REPORTING.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the end of each 
fiscal year, the Administrator shall publish a report regarding prime 
contracts with the Federal Government awarded to business concerns that 
were identified as small business concerns for the purposes of 
achieving the small business contracting goals of the Federal 
Government during the previous fiscal year.
    (b) Contents.--
            (1) In general.--Each report under subsection (a) shall, 
        for the fiscal year before the year in which that report is 
        published, include--
                    (A) the name of each small business concern, small 
                business concern owned and controlled by socially and 
                economically disadvantaged individuals, small business 
                concern owned and controlled by women, small business 
                concern owned and controlled by veterans, and small 
                business concern owned and controlled by service-
                disabled veterans that was awarded a prime contract 
                with the Federal Government; and
                    (B) for each small business concern described in 
                subparagraph (A), the total dollar amount of prime 
                contracts with the Federal Government awarded to that 
                small business concern in descending order.
            (2) Parent companies.--If a small business concern 
        described in paragraph (1)(A) has a parent company, the 
        Administrator shall report information relating to any prime 
        contract with the federal government of that small business 
        concern und the name of that parent company.
    (c) Availability.--The Administrator shall make each report under 
subsection (a) available on the website of the Administration in a 
manner that is easily accessible by members of the public.

SEC. 7. LIST OF CONTRACTORS.

    (a) In General.--Each Federal department and agency shall publish 
on the website of that department or agency a list of each business 
concern that received a contract award because that business concern 
was identified as a small business concern.
    (b) List Contents.--A list published under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) list business concerns in the order of the total amount 
        in dollars of contracts between the Federal Government and that 
        business concern, beginning with the largest total value;
            (2) include the total amount in dollars of contracts 
        between the Federal Government and each business concern on 
        such list; and
            (3) include the name of any parent company of a business 
        concern on such list.

SEC. 8. CONTRACTING DATABASES.

    The Administrator shall, by regulation, establish procedures to 
ensure that the Central Contractor Registration database and any 
successor database provide an adequate warning regarding criminal 
penalties established under section 16(d) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 645(d)) for misrepresenting the status of a business concern or 
person in order to obtain certain contracts with the Federal 
Government.

SEC. 9. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Complaints.--
            (1) In general.--Any person may file a complaint with the 
        Administrator and the head of the affected department or agency 
        about the classification of a business concern as a small 
        business concern and the Administrator and the head of the 
        affected department or agency shall resolve any complaint filed 
        under this paragraph in a timely manner.
            (2) Reports.--The Administrator shall annually submit to 
        Congress a report describing any complaints described in 
        paragraph (1) that were filed during the relevant year and the 
        resolution of any such complaint.
    (b) Debarment.--The head of each Federal department or agency shall 
issue or amend the contracting rules and regulations for that 
department or agency to ensure that a business concern shall be 
debarred from receiving a Federal contract for a period of not less 
than 5 years if that business concern--
            (1) fraudulently represents that it is a small business 
        concern as part of a bid for a small business contract with 
        that department or agency; or
            (2) violates this Act or an amendment made by this Act.
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