[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4750 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4750

 To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2024

   Mr. Casey introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, 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 ``Ensuring Efficiency and Fairness in 
Federal Subcontracting Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
                of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United 
        States Code.

SEC. 3. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON SMALL BUSINESS UTILIZATION IN 
              FEDERAL CONTRACTING.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees the results of a study on how 
small business utilization by prime contractors can be better monitored 
on the largest and longest Federal contracts, including Indefinite 
Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts and Government-wide 
Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), with any further relevant contract types 
to be determined by the Comptroller General.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO NOTIFY SUBCONTRACTORS OF CONTRACT STATUS.

    Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall revise the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation--
            (1) to require prime contractors on Federal contracts to 
        provide to a subcontractor named in a subcontracting plan of 
        the prime contractor, within 30 days of a request from such 
        subcontractor, notification of the status of the contract, 
        including information such as whether the prime contractor has 
        received any task orders or executed other work under the 
        contract;
            (2) to provide a means by which a subcontractor who has 
        made a request described in paragraph (1) and not received a 
        response within 30 days to report the request and delayed 
        response to the contracting officer;
            (3) to require a contracting officer receiving a 
        notification described in paragraph (2) to document the 
        incident and consider the information in the small business 
        subcontracting factor of the performance assessment for the 
        prime contractor; and
            (4) to require offerors for a task or delivery order on a 
        contract for which a subcontracting plan is required to provide 
        information in the proposal about how the offeror's proposed 
        small business utilization for the task or delivery order 
        aligns with the overall contract's small business 
        subcontracting plan.

SEC. 5. STUDY ON STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS DESIGNED TO 
              PROTECT SUBCONTRACTORS.

    The Attorney General, in consultation with the Administrator of 
General Services, the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration, and the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, 
shall conduct a study on ways to strengthen enforcement mechanisms for 
compliance with subcontracting plans in accordance with section 19.705-
7 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, including exploring the 
need for an alternative complaint route for subcontractors that have 
experienced serious issues as a result of the prime contractor or a 
subcontractor at any tier under the contract failing to make a good 
faith effort, as outlined in such section and section 125.3 of title 
13, Code of Federal Regulations.

SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON UTILIZATION OF CONTRACTOR 
              PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT REPORTING SYSTEM (CPARS) DATA TO 
              ASSESS RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRIME AND SUBCONTRACTORS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees the results of 
a study on how CPARS could be utilized as a means of gauging 
relationships between prime and subcontractors.
    (b) Elements.--The study required under subsection (a) shall focus 
on the following matters:
            (1) An examination of how adverse experiences of 
        subcontractors are or are not translated into lower CPARS 
        scores.
            (2) An assessment of whether lower CPARS scores impact the 
        ability of prime contractors to secure Federal contracts and 
        options in source selection, including an examination of the 
        weighting of the subcontracting score relative to other 
        components of the CPARS.
            (3) An assessment of whether the timing of scoring within 
        contracts is such that it incentivizes the best possible small 
        business utilization and interaction between prime and 
        subcontractors.

SEC. 7. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO MEET SMALL BUSINESS UTILIZATION GOALS.

    Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall revise the 
Federal Acquisition Regulation to allow agencies to incorporate into 
their incentive contracts with prime contractors a condition that--
            (1) if the rate of small business utilization for the 
        contract is less than 50 percent of the utilization level 
        prescribed in the subcontracting plan, the prime contractor 
        shall not be eligible to receive a performance-based incentive 
        fee with respect to the contract; and
            (2) if the rate of small business utilization at any stage 
        of an incentive contract is less than 75 percent of the 
        utilization level prescribed for such stage in the 
        subcontracting plan, the prime contractor may receive a warning 
        letter from the contracting officer for the contract noting the 
        shortfall and potential loss of incentive fees.

SEC. 8. OUTREACH TO SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTORS.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall issue 
guidance to the heads of executive agencies on measures they should 
take to improve small business outreach and improve awareness of 
subcontracting opportunities, including webinars, online engagements, 
and other innovative methods of outreach, and hosting at least two 
general outreach sessions per year for potential small business 
contractors and one outreach session per year for each of the following 
groups:
            (1) Small business concerns owned and controlled by 
        veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by 
        service-disabled veterans (as those terms are defined in 
        section 3(q) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q))).
            (2) Qualified HUBZone small business concerns (as defined 
        in section 3(p) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p))).
            (3) Socially and economically disadvantaged small business 
        concerns (as defined in section 8(a)(4)(A) of such Act (15 
        U.S.C. 637(a)(4)(A))).
            (4) Small business concerns owned and controlled by women 
        (as defined in section 3(n) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n))).

SEC. 9. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ELECTRONIC SUBCONTRACTING REPORTING SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services shall 
develop and include as part of the General Services Administration's 
strategic information resources management plan required under section 
3506(b)(2) of title 44, United States Code, a plan to modernize the 
Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS).
    (b) Elements.--The modernization plan required under subsection (a) 
shall include--
            (1) steps that the General Services Administration intends 
        to make toward updating and modernizing eSRS;
            (2) an assessment of the capacity of the agency to operate 
        and maintain an updated system;
            (3) the estimated cost and sources of funding required to 
        execute this plan; and
            (4) a description of the additional resources and staffing 
        that is necessary to carrying out the plan.
    (c) Submission to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
on which the General Services Administration's strategic information 
resources management plan is updated pursuant to subsection (a), the 
Administrator of General Services shall submit the plan to modernize 
eSRS described in such subsection.
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