[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1859 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1859

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2015

   Mr. Udall 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 
2015''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL CONTRACTING GOALS.

    (a) Increase in Certain Goals.--Section 15(g)(1)(A) of the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), 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 Small 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) Limitation on number of categories for which a small 
        business may qualify.--
                    ``(A) Definition.--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) Limitation.--Except as provided in 
                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) Rule of construction.--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(h)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(h)(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (E)(viii)(VIII), by striking ``and'' at 
        the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (F), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(G) for the Federal Government, the percentage of 
                participation by small business concerns for the total 
                value of all prime contract awards and subcontract 
                awards for a fiscal year, including the value of each 
                prime contract and subcontract awarded for the fiscal 
                year.''.

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>