[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 273 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 273

 To amend the Small Business Act to enhance services to small business 
        concerns that are disadvantaged, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 12, 2015

   Mr. Rush introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to enhance services to small business 
        concerns that are disadvantaged, 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 ``Minority Small Business Enhancement 
Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF SERVICES TO SMALL BUSINESSES THAT ARE 
              DISADVANTAGED.

    (a) Net Worth.--Section 8(a)(6)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)) is amended by inserting after ``disadvantaged 
individual.'' the following: ``For purposes of eligibility for 
admission as a Program Participant and for continued eligibility after 
admission, the net worth of such individual may be any amount less than 
$1,500,000.''.
    (b) Time Limit on Participation.--Section 7(j)(15) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(j)(15)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
        (i) and (ii), respectively;
            (2) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(15)''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) No time limitation relating to the period 
                that a small business concern may receive developmental 
                assistance under the Program and contracts under 
                section 8(a) shall apply to a small business concern 
                that has not completed a contract under section 
                8(a).''.

SEC. 3. BUNDLED CONTRACTS.

    (a) Definition.--Section 3(o) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
632(o)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(o) Definitions of Bundling of Contract Requirements and Related 
Terms.--For purposes of this Act:
            ``(1) Bundled contract.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `bundled contract' 
                means a contract or order that is entered into to meet 
                procurement requirements that are consolidated in a 
                bundling of contract requirements, without regard to 
                its designation by the procuring agency or whether a 
                study of the effects of the solicitation on civilian or 
                military personnel has been made.
                    ``(B) Exceptions.--The term does not include--
                            ``(i) a contract or order with an aggregate 
                        dollar value below the dollar threshold 
                        specified in paragraph (5); or
                            ``(ii) a contract or order that is entered 
                        into to meet procurement requirements, all of 
                        which are exempted requirements under paragraph 
                        (6).
            ``(2) Bundling of contract requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `bundling of contract 
                requirements' means the use of any bundling methodology 
                to satisfy 2 or more procurement requirements for goods 
                or services previously supplied or performed under 
                separate smaller contracts or orders, or to satisfy 2 
                or more procurement requirements for construction 
                services of a type historically performed under 
                separate smaller contracts or orders, that is likely to 
                be unsuitable for award to a small business concern due 
                to--
                            ``(i) the diversity, size, or specialized 
                        nature of the elements of the performance 
                        specified;
                            ``(ii) the aggregate dollar value of the 
                        anticipated award;
                            ``(iii) the geographical dispersion of the 
                        contract or order performance sites; or
                            ``(iv) any combination of the factors 
                        described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii).
                    ``(B) Inclusion of new features or functions.--A 
                combination of contract requirements that would meet 
                the definition of a bundling of contract requirements 
                but for the addition of a procurement requirement with 
                at least one new good or service shall be considered to 
                be a bundling of contract requirements unless the new 
                features or functions substantially transform the goods 
                or services and will provide measurably substantial 
                benefits to the government in terms of quality, 
                performance, or price.
                    ``(C) Exceptions.--The term does not include--
                            ``(i) the use of a bundling methodology for 
                        an anticipated award with an aggregate dollar 
                        value below the dollar threshold specified in 
                        paragraph (5); or
                            ``(ii) the use of a bundling methodology to 
                        meet procurement requirements, all of which are 
                        exempted requirements under paragraph (6).
            ``(3) Bundling methodology.--The term `bundling 
        methodology' means--
                    ``(A) a solicitation to obtain offers for a single 
                contract or order, or a multiple award contract or 
                order; or
                    ``(B) a solicitation of offers for the issuance of 
                a task or a delivery order under an existing single or 
                multiple award contract or order.
            ``(4) Separate smaller contract.--The term `separate 
        smaller contract', with respect to bundling of contract 
        requirements, means a contract or order that has been performed 
        by 1 or more small business concerns or was suitable for award 
        to 1 or more small business concerns.
            ``(5) Dollar threshold.--The term `dollar threshold' means 
        $65,000,000, if solely for construction services, and 
        $5,000,000 with respect to all other circumstances.
            ``(6) Exempted requirements.--The term `exempted 
        requirement' means a procurement requirement solely for items 
        that are not commercial items (as the term `commercial item' is 
        defined in section 4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement 
        Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12)).
            ``(7) Procurement requirement.--The term `procurement 
        requirement' means a determination by an agency that a 
        specified good or service is needed to satisfy the mission of 
        the agency.''.
    (b) Proposed Procurement Requirements.--Section 15(a) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``necessary and justified.'' and inserting 
        ``necessary and justified, as well as identifying information 
        on the incumbent contract holders, a description of the 
        industries which might be interested in bidding on the contract 
        requirements, and the number of small businesses listed in the 
        industry categories that could be excluded from future bidding 
        if the contract is combined or packaged.''; and
            (2) by striking the sentence beginning ``Whenever the 
        Administration and the contracting procurement agency fail to 
        agree,'' and inserting the following: ``Whenever the 
        Administration and the contracting procurement agency fail to 
        agree, the Administrator may review the proposed procurement, 
        may delay the solicitation process for not more than 10 days to 
        make recommendations, and the matter shall be submitted to the 
        Director of the Office of Management and Budget to mediate the 
        disagreement.''.

SEC. 4. 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) by striking ``not less than 23 percent'' and inserting 
        ``not less than 25 percent''; and
            (2) by striking ``not less than 5 percent'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``not less than 10 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:
            ``(4) For purposes of this subsection and subsection (h), 
        with respect to each procurement contract a small business 
        concern may not qualify as more than 2 specified categories, 
        regardless of whether such small business concern satisfies the 
        definition of more than 2 specified categories. The specified 
        categories are 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.''.
    (c) Government Accountability Office Study.--Not later than October 
1, 2016, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct and 
submit to Congress a report describing the results of a study on 
disparities in the awarding of Federal contracts to procure goods or 
services with respect to small business concerns owned and controlled 
by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, small business 
concerns, and other business concerns.
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