[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4281 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4281

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the oversight of 
    contracts awarded by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to small 
          business concerns owned and controlled by veterans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 21, 2014

Mr. Huelskamp introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the oversight of 
    contracts awarded by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to small 
          business concerns owned and controlled by veterans.

    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 ``Protecting Business Opportunities 
for Veterans Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. CONTRACTS WITH SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY 
              VETERANS.

    Section 8127 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (l) as subsection (m); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (k) the following new 
        subsection (l):
    ``(l) Limitations on Subcontracting.--(1)(A) The requirements 
applicable to a small business concern under section 46 of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657s) shall apply with respect to a small 
business concern owned and controlled by a veteran with a service-
connected disability or a small business concern owned and controlled 
by a veteran that is awarded a contract under this section.
    ``(B) For purposes of applying the requirements of section 46 of 
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657s) pursuant to subparagraph (A)--
            ``(i) a small business concern owned and controlled by a 
        veteran shall be treated as a small business concern owned and 
        controlled by a veteran with a service-connected disability; 
        and
            ``(ii) the term `similarly situated entity' used in such 
        section 46 means a subcontractor for a small business concern 
        owned and controlled by a veteran with a service-connected 
        disability or a small business concern owned and controlled by 
        a veteran described in such subparagraph (A).
    ``(2) Upon awarding a contract to a small business concern under 
this section, the Secretary shall obtain from an offeror a 
certification that the offeror will comply with the requirements 
described in paragraph (1)(A) if awarded the contract. Such 
certification shall--
            ``(A) specify the exact performance requirements applicable 
        under such paragraph; and
            ``(B) explicitly acknowledge that the certification is 
        subject to section 1001 of title 18.
    ``(3) If the Secretary determines that a small business concern 
that is awarded a contract under this section did not act in good faith 
with respect to the requirements described in paragraph (1)(A), the 
small business concern shall be subject to the penalties specified in--
            ``(A) section 16(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        645(g)(1)); and
            ``(B) section 1001 of title 18.
    ``(4)(A) The Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 
Business Utilization established by section 15(k) of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 644(k)) and the Chief Acquisition Officer established 
under section 1702 of title 41 shall jointly implement a process using 
the systems described in section 16(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 645(g)(2)), or any other systems available, to monitor 
compliance with this subsection. The Director and the Chief Acquisition 
Officer shall jointly refer any violations of this subsection to the 
Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    ``(B) The Inspector General shall submit to the Committees on 
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate an 
annual report that includes--
            ``(i) the number of referred violations received under 
        subparagraph (A); and
            ``(ii) the disposition of such referred violations, 
        including the number of small business concerns suspended or 
        debarred from Federal contracting or referred to the Attorney 
        General for prosecution.''.
                                 <all>