[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 259 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 259

  To assure equity in contracting between the Federal Government and 
            small business concerns, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 7, 2013

 Mr. Udall of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was read 
       twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and 
                            Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To assure equity in contracting between the Federal Government and 
            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 ``Assuring Contracting Equity Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL CONTRACTING GOALS.

    (a) Increase in Certain Goals.--Section 15(g)(1) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in the second sentence, by striking ``not less than 23 
        percent'' and inserting ``not less than 25 percent'';
            (2) by striking ``not less than 5 percent'' each place that 
        term appears and inserting ``not less than 10 percent''; and
            (3) by striking ``not less than 3 percent'' each place that 
        term appears and inserting ``not less than 6 percent''.
    (b) Limitation on Number of Categories for Which a Business May 
Qualify.--Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3)(A) In this paragraph, the term `specified category' means 
small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled 
by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business 
concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and 
economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns 
owned and controlled by women.
    ``(B) Except as provided subparagraph (C), a Federal agency may 
include a business concern in not more than 2 specified categories for 
purposes of determining whether the Federal agency has met the 
Government-wide goals under this subsection for the award of contracts 
to business concerns in specified categories.
    ``(C) A Federal agency may not include a small business concern 
that is participating in the program under section 8(a) in any 
specified category except the category `small business concerns owned 
and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals' 
for purposes of determining whether the Federal agency has met the 
Government-wide goals under this subsection for the award of contracts 
to business concerns in specified categories.''.

SEC. 3. IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.

    Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 
amended by inserting after the second sentence the following: ``For 
purposes of this subsection, in addition to the existing reporting 
requirements, the Administrator shall include the percentage of small 
business concern participation for the total value of all prime 
contract awards for a fiscal year, including the value of each prime 
contract awarded for the fiscal year, without regard to whether the 
prime contract was awarded as the result of unrestricted competition or 
any determination by the Administrator with respect to the potential 
for a small business concern to perform the prime contract or a 
subcontract under the prime contract.''.

SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING GOALS.

    The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall 
consult with the heads of other Federal agencies to develop and 
implement standards for procurement officers to take into consideration 
the past compliance of potential contractors with small business 
subcontracting goals when making contract awards.
                                 <all>