[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3173 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3173

To prohibit the Small Business Administration from awarding sole source 
contracts until the Administration conducts a full audit of and submits 
to Congress a report on the business development program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 10, 2025

   Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit the Small Business Administration from awarding sole source 
contracts until the Administration conducts a full audit of and submits 
to Congress a report on the business development program, 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 ``Stop 8(a) Contracting Fraud Act''.

SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the terms ``Administration'' and ``Administrator'' mean 
        the Small Business Administration and the Administrator 
        thereof, respectively; and
            (2) the term ``Deputy Administrator'' means the Deputy 
        Administrator of the Administration.
    (b) Moratorium.--The Administration may not award sole source 
contracts under section 8(a)(16) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
637(a)(16)) during the period beginning on the date of enactment of 
this Act and ending on the date on which the Administration--
            (1) completes the audit of the business development program 
        under such section 8(a) ordered to be conducted by the 
        Administrator on June 27, 2025; and
            (2) submits to the Committee on Small Business and 
        Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on Small 
        Business of the House of Representatives a report that includes 
        the findings of the audit described in paragraph (1).
    (c) Waiver.--
            (1) In general.--If a contracting officer determines that 
        it is in the interest of national security to conduct a sole 
        source contract under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act 
        (15 U.S.C. 637(a)), the contracting officer may seek a waiver 
        of the moratorium under subparagraph (b).
            (2) Submission of request.--
                    (A) In general.--
                            (i) Submission to head acquisition 
                        officer.--The contracting officer may submit a 
                        request for a waiver to the head acquisition 
                        officer (or equivalent) for the agency of the 
                        contracting officer.
                            (ii) Submission to administrator.--
                        Following approval of a submission under clause 
                        (i), the head acquisition officer (or 
                        equivalent) shall submit the request for a 
                        waiver to the Administrator or Deputy 
                        Administrator.
                    (B) Contents of request.--A request for a waiver 
                submitted under subparagraph (A) shall include a 
                justification explaining--
                            (i) the reason the use of the waiver 
                        authority is imperative for national security 
                        purposes; and
                            (ii) the reason the work cannot be 
                        performed by any other small business concern.
                    (C) Form of request and approval.--
                            (i) Request.--The justification required 
                        under subparagraph (B) shall be submitted in 
                        writing.
                            (ii) Approval.--The Administrator or Deputy 
                        Administrator may approve a request for a 
                        waiver.
            (3) Nondelegation.--The waiver authority established under 
        paragraph (1) may not be delegated.
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