[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2172 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2172

   To remove the limit on the anticipated award price for contracts 
 awarded under the procurement program for women-owned small business 
                   concerns, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 7, 2012

Ms. Snowe (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. 
  Shaheen, Ms. Mikulski, and Ms. Murkowski) introduced the following 
   bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 
                     Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To remove the limit on the anticipated award price for contracts 
 awarded under the procurement program for women-owned small business 
                   concerns, 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 ``Fairness in Women-Owned Small 
Business Contracting Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.

    Section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``who are 
                economically disadvantaged'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``paragraph 
                (3)'' and inserting ``paragraph (4)'';
                    (C) by striking subparagraph (D); and
                    (D) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) and (F) as 
                subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) Sole source contracts.--A contracting officer may 
        award a sole source contract under this subsection to a small 
        business concern owned and controlled by women under the same 
        conditions as a sole source contract may be awarded to a 
        qualified HUBZone small business concern under section 
        31(b)(2)(A).''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT ON REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN.

    Section 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(o) Study and Report on Representation of Women.--
            ``(1) Study.--The Administrator shall periodically conduct 
        a study to identify any United States industry, as defined 
        under the North American Industry Classification System, in 
        which women are underrepresented.
            ``(2) Report.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, and every 5 years thereafter, the 
        Administrator 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 on the 
        results of each study under paragraph (1) conducted during the 
        5-year period ending on the date of the report.''.
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