[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MARKUP OF COMMITTEE VIEWS AND ESTIMATES ON THE SMALL BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION FY2013 BUDGET, H.R. 3850, H.R. 3851, H.R. 4121, H.R.
3893, H.R. 3980, AND H.R. 4118
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
MARCH 7, 2012
__________
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Small Business Committee Document Number 112-056
Available via the GPO Website: www.fdsys.gov
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
112th Roster
SAM GRAVES, Missouri, Chairman
ROSCOE BARTLETT, Maryland
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE KING, Iowa
MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado
MICK MULVANEY, South Carolina
SCOTT TIPTON, Colorado
JEFF LANDRY, Louisiana
JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
ALLEN WEST, Florida
RENEE ELLMERS, North Carolina
JOE WALSH, Illinois
LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania
RICHARD HANNA, New York
ROBERT SCHILLING, Illinois
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
KURT SCHRADER, Oregon
MARK CRITZ, Pennsylvania
YVETTE CLARKE, New York
JUDY CHU, California
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana
JANICE HAHN, California
GARY PETERS, Michigan
BILL OWENS, New York
BILL KEATING, Massachusetts
C O N T E N T S
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OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Sam Graves.................................................. 1
Hon. Nydia Velazquez............................................. 2
WITNESSES
None.
APPENDIX
Additional Materials for the Record:
Amendments................................................... 32
Cicciline Statement for the Record........................... 36
MARKUP OF COMMITTEE VIEWS AND ESTIMATES ON THE SMALL BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION FY 2013 BUDGET; H.R. 3850; H.R. 3851; H.R. 4121; H.R.
3893; H.R. 3980; AND H.R. 4118
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012
House of Representatives
Committee on Small Business,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 1 p.m., in room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building. Hon. Sam Graves (chairman
of the Committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Graves, West, Herrera Beutler,
Ellmers, Barlett, Hanna, Schilling, Keating, Owens, Peters,
Bartletta, Velazquez, Schrader, Critz, Clarke, Chu, Cicilline,
Richmond, Hahn, Mulvaney, Tipton, Coffman, Walsh, King.
Chairman Graves. Good afternoon, everyone. I call this
Small Business Committee meeting to order.
Today our first order of business is to consider our views
on the Small Business Administration's budget for fiscal year
2013. After considering the views and estimates, we will move
into marking up legislation on improving the environment for
small businesses interested in federal contracting.
The president has often talked about the importance of
small business to the American economy. Despite this, the
administration could provide no one to defend the budget in a
timely fashion so views and estimates could be submitted to the
Committee on the budget by March 9, 2012.
The president held a press conference in which he touted
the need to restructure services offered by the government to
help small businesses. Of course, this presumes that the best
way to help small businesses is for the government to offer
services. Instead, the best way, I think, to help small
businesses is to revise the tax code, reduce unnecessary
regulations, provide certainty with respect to health care
costs, and lower the deficit. The budget certainly does none of
these things.
Given the significant debt owed by the federal government,
the budget fails to take the opportunity to provide a roadmap
for making the hard choices needed to reduce spending on small
business programs without undercutting the capacity to provide
the most necessary services to assist the growth of small
businesses. For example, the budget requests an additional $10
million for entrepreneurial outreach and education on programs
not authorized by Congress or even examined by Congress. Even
if the goals of such programs are worthy, it is irresponsible
for the SBA to make such requests given the existing budget
situation.
Nor does the budget provide a roadmap on efforts needed to
reduce spending by the SBA. The largest increase in the SBA's
budget is for subsidies needed to operate the guaranteed loan
programs so small businesses can obtain scarce capital. A key
component in determining the amount needed is how much the
government can expect to recover if the loan defaults. The SBA
provides no path to improve such recoveries or plans for
revamping the computer systems that manage these loans.
Even though the president did not offer a budget which made
hard choices and no one from the SBA was available to provide
insight into the budget, the views and estimates before us
today do make hard choices and provide a roadmap for a leaner
but still robust agency that can provide necessary services to
small businesses.
The views and estimates letter recommends eliminating a
variety of duplicative programs at the SBA. Even with these
cuts, the SBA will necessarily face an increase in their
budget.
The budgetary increases stem entirely from the costs of
operating the SBA's conventional and disaster lending programs.
Yet, the president's budget made no recommendations on
processes that might reduce such costs. The views and estimates
letter before us provides such a path through ways to increase
recoveries after defaults and requiring that programs which are
supposed to operate without any appropriation actually do so.
Additionally, the letter before us requests that no
appropriations be allocated for pilot or other initiatives
until the SBA has a modern, fully functional loan management
accounting system.
Despite these cuts, the core functions of the SBA to make
capital available, provide advice, and increase utilization of
small businesses as federal government contractors are
preserved. The sensible approach outlined in the views and
estimates letter will represent this Committee's effort at
reducing the federal spending.
And now I am very happy to recognize the ranking member for
her opening remarks.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Today's consideration of the Committee's views and estimate
on the SBA budget is occurring as the economy is showing
increasingly promising signs of a recovery. GDP, growth,
surplus, expectations last quarter rose 3 percent, the fastest
pace since early 2010. And other positive signs are everywhere.
American factory output grew at the fastest rate in five years,
while consumer confidence hit a one-year high. All of this good
news is finally translating into job gains as employers added
one million workers to payrolls since July, leading to the
biggest decline in the unemployment rate since 1984. At 8.3
percent, unemployment is the lowest in almost three years.
But the truth of the matter is that much more needs to be
done on the job creation front and this is where SBA plays a
crucial role. The agency's near-term blueprint for
accomplishing this goal is its fiscal year 2013 budget request
of $1.1 billion. The most notable aspect of the summation is
the rising credit subsidy costs for the 7A and 504 programs.
With the Federal Reserve reporting that lending standards have
still not recovered to pre-recession levels, it remains
difficult for many businesses to access capital. As a result,
SBA lending programs are as important as ever and these costs,
while rising are absolutely necessary and appropriate to
preserve this source of capital.
Unfortunately, to help defray these additional expenses,
the agency imposes a 10 percent across-the-board cut on proven
programs that actually generate taxable revenue and pay for
themselves, all the while continuing to seek funding for
unauthorized initiatives. Programs like the Small Business
Development Centers are successful and not only creating new
businesses but also the jobs that come with them. While we
understand the need to cut programs, it makes little sense to
reduce the very programs that work, while increasing spending
on programs that are untested. For instance, the SBA chooses to
spend on countless, unauthorized initiatives, including 6
million on the Business USA website; 3 million on clusters; and
another 7 million for a new veteran effort. There are at least
six other such unauthorized programs included in the SBA's
fiscal year 2013 budget. In times of tight budgets, the agency
should not be cutting results-oriented programs like SBDCs and
then proposing to spend millions on ideas that have not been
vetted by Congress, nor objectively reviewed.
With regard to the majority of these views and estimates
letter, I support several of its provisions. It recommends the
elimination of many of the aforementioned unauthorized
programs. It is right to terminate them as other established
programs show long-term benefits to the taxpayer. However,
there are some areas of concern. By proposing to eliminate
funding for the Veterans Business Outreach Center program, it
is limiting the ability of the 190,000 veterans of the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan to start their own businesses. These men
and women have unique skills and needs which justify the
veterans' program approach. Many of these centers are run by
veterans themselves which made them an appropriate means to
provide training to would-be veteran entrepreneurs.
In addition, while the majority talks about its concerns
that the SBA is too concentrated in Washington, D.C., it fails
to provide concrete steps for distributing personnel. It simply
proposes to reduce both field staff and headquarters staff
alike which does not necessarily lead to a more diffused SBA.
Instead, the agency's personnel structure should be evaluated
and steps taken to ensure that all areas of the country have
access to the SBA resources they need.
As we all know, this agreement and priorities in the
agency's annual budget is not unusual. Although Chairman Graves
and I do not fully agree on our views, it is rather obvious
that we both believe more work needs to be done at the SBA in
setting its priorities. Put simply, continually spending
taxpayer money on priorities not approved by Congress is not a
good use of resources.
While the recent downturn required many business owners to
reimagine their company to stay competitive, the SBA should be
taking similar steps. This means recommitting itself to
existing programs that work while reducing waste and fraud and
other key initiatives. Doing so will bring tangible benefits to
small businesses while also making sure that taxpayers are
given a positive return on their investment.
And with that I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Are there any other members who wish to be
recognized for a statement on views and estimates?
The Committee now moves to consideration of the views and
estimates letter. The clerk will read the title of the
document.
The Clerk. Views and estimate of the Committee on Small
Business on matters to be set forth in the concurrent
resolution of the budget for fiscal year 2013.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, the views and estimates
letter is considered as read and open for amendment in its
entirety. Does any member seek recognition for the purpose of
offering an amendment on views and estimates?
Seeing none, the question on adopting the views and
estimates letter, all those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed say no.
In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The views and
estimates are agreed to.
Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. I recognize ranking member.
Ms. Velazquez. I would like to give notice pursuant to
House Rule 11, clause 21, that the Committee's democrats will
be finding additional views with the Committee on Budget on the
SBA's fiscal year 2013 budget submission.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely. Without objection that is so
ordered. Without objection the Committee is authorized to
correct punctuation and to make other necessary technical
adjustments on the document considered today.
All right. We now move to the markup of contracting
legislation. Given that the federal government spends over half
a trillion dollars each year through contracts, this is an
incredibly important market for small businesses. Improving
small business opportunities for federal contracts is a triple
play. Small businesses win more contracts, workers win as the
small businesses create jobs and taxpayers win because small
businesses bring competition, innovation, and lower prices to
save the government money. Recognizing that this is a crucial
area for small businesses over the past year, the Committee has
held 10 hearings or subcommittee hearings on federal
procurement issues. these have resulted in eight bills
introduced by the majority, and this package has been supported
by over 20 trade associations, such as the Association of
General Contractors, Minority Business Roundtable, the Chamber
of Commerce, the Financial Services Roundtable, National
Association of Home Builders, Mason Contractors Association,
the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors, National
Association of Surety Bond Producers, National Association of
Small Disadvantaged Businesses, the U.S. Black Chamber, the
National Women Business Owners' Corporation, Women Impacting
Public Policy, and American Institutes of Architects. And many,
many others.
Additionally, our minority just introduced three
contracting bills bringing us to a total of 11 contracting
bills which we are committed to marking up. Now, that is a
testament to the bipartisan nature I believe of this Small
Business Committee and to the issues that are obviously before
us.
Today we are going to mark up the first six of these bills.
And while we discuss each bill briefly before we mark it up, I
want to emphasize how crucial it is that we have bipartisan
contracting reform that is going to improve opportunities for
small businesses.
I look forward to working with all of you today to move
these bills one step closer to law, and I now recognize Ranking
Member Velazquez for her opening statement.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
With the federal marketplace accounting for half a billion
dollars annually, procurement policy can be a powerful
instrument for job creation. One of the most effective things
we can do in this area is ensure small businesses win their
fair share of contracts and that more small businesses can get
involved in the process. When large corporations win contracts,
their existing workforce can take on the new work. However,
when entrepreneurs are hired by the federal government, they
bring on new employees, creating opportunities for working
families. Reforming the procurement process can therefore help
us create badly needed jobs without having to spend additional
taxpayer dollars. After all, these expenditures will already be
made. The question is whether small firms can compete for them
fairly or not.
The fact is the federal government's record omitting small
business contracting goals has been disappointing at best. The
government as a whole consistently fails to ensure 23 percent
of its contracting dollars go to small businesses and agencies
regularly fail to meet their individual goals, not only for
small businesses but other disadvantaged entrepreneurs like
veterans, women, and minorities. Improving this process and
empowering more small firms to grow with the government as a
customer can be vital to not only the small business sector but
our economy as a whole.
I thank the Chairman for working with us on this
legislation and I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Graves. Thank you very much. Are there any other
members who wish to be recognized for the purpose of an opening
statement?
Seeing none we will move forward with H.R. 3850. We will
now consider--in fact, we will go through all six of these
contracting bills in the order listed in the notice. And copies
of each of the bills have been provided.
The first item is 3850, Government Efficiency through Small
Business Contracting Act of 2012. I introduced this bill with
Congressman Owens and Congressman Schilling to increase
contracting opportunities for small businesses. This bill does
this by increasing the businesses' prime contracting goal from
23 percent to 25 percent, which will result in approximately 11
billion more in prime contracts for small businesses each year.
The bill strengthens subcontracting opportunities by
instituting a statutory 40 percent goal when there was
previously only Administrative Goal 35.9. The bill also
clarifies how contracts should be counted for the purposes of
the goal and does something small businesses have been
clamoring for--holds agencies accountable for meeting the goal.
Specifically it says that no senior executive at any agency is
eligible for a bonus if the agency does not meet its small
business goals.
The changes made by this legislation will motivate agencies
to meet their obligations to small businesses and improve
contracting to the benefit of taxpayers and small businesses
alike. I would urge the Committee to pass this important piece
of legislation. I now recognize Ranking Member Velazquez for
her opening comments on 3850.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The legislation before us makes significant changes to the
federal small business governing program. This effort
originally established in the Business Opportunity Development
Reform Act of 1988 requires the government to attempt to
annually achieve a certain goal for contracts awarded to small
businesses. Unfortunately, since the goal was raised to 23
percent in the Small Business Reauthorization of 1997, it has
not been achieved. The reasons for this are many. Agencies lack
the tools and resources to effectively channel many contracts
to small firms. For instance, only last year did we finally see
a women-owned procurement program implemented even though women
received less than 4 percent of contracting dollars.
Compounding this is an understaffed acquisition workforce
including a lack of PCRs and CMRs who traditionally focus on
increasing opportunity for small businesses but are clearly
undermanned. The result is that contract consolidations
continue to occur, leaving smaller companies locked out of some
of the most lucrative opportunities. In addition, it appears
that what was once a goal may have effectively become a cap on
small business procurement participation. Fourteen years is a
long time to not achieve a reasonable goal and even the
staunchest small business advocates have to wonder if a goal is
leading to agency underperformance in this area.
Other problems plague the program, including that the
performance data and reporting mechanisms are so error filled
that some years the golden grapes have been essentially
meaningless. As a result of all these concerns, one has to
question whether goals are helping or hurting our own goal of
increasing small business participation in the federal
procurement marketplace.
While the legislation certainly attempts to get more
contracts in the hands of small businesses, raising goals
without providing agencies with the tools and resources
necessary to achieve them may well fall short. Without such
assistance as well as comprehensive procurement reforms, I am
afraid that we will simply be back in this very room
contemplating why agencies are still unable to achieve their
goals. The truth is that small businesses need more than just
goals to succeed in the federal marketplace and I look forward
to working toward that goal in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Are there any other members that wish to
be recognized for a statement on 3850?
Seeing none, the Committee now moves to consideration of
H.R. 3850. The clerk will report the title of the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 3850. To Amend the Small Business Act with
Respect to Goals for Procurement Contracts Awarded to Small
Business Contractors and For Other Purposes.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, H.R. 3850 is considered
as read and open for amendment at this point. Does anyone seek
to be recognized? I think we are going to start with
Congresswoman Hahn.
Ms. Hahn. Thank you, Chairman Graves, for working with me
on this important amendment.
My amendment to H.R. 3850, the Government Efficiency
through Small Business Contracting Act of 2012 is a simple step
towards ensuring transparency in government. It requires the
congressionally mandated SBA report to Congress and the
president also be made available to the public by publishing
the report online. This simple sentence will make a world of
difference in creating transparency and accountability and the
SBA's mandate to give a bite at federal contracting dollars to
the true backbone of the American economy, the real job
creators, American small businesses. The American people
deserve to see how we are empowering small businesses, and they
should not have to go any further than their computer to see
whether or not we are living up to these goals. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. We are kind of going a little backwards
but will the clerk please read the amendment?
The Clerk. Amendment 1 to H.R. 3850 offered by Ms. Hahn of
California.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read and Ms. Hahn has adequately explained her
amendment. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the amendment?
And with that the gentlelady's amendment makes sense to me.
The report on Small Business Contracting should be made
available online so all small businesses and taxpayers can see
it. So I support the amendment.
Ms. Hahn. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. If there is no other further discussion on
the lady's amendment being offered, all those--we will just
open it up. That is amendment No. 1 sponsored by Ms. Hahn. All
those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The
amendment is agreed to.
The next amendment would be Representative Chu.
Ms. Chu. Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I have Amendment No. 2.
And I want to thank you for including a robust reporting
section on contracts awarded to small businesses.
Chairman Graves. Just bring it up and we will let the
amendment be reported and then you will have five minutes.
The Clerk. Amendment 2 to H.R. 3850 offered by Ms. Chu of
California.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read. The member is recognized for five minutes.
Thank you.
Ms. Chu. Well, Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for the
robust reporting section on contracts awarded to small
business.
Until we have a good idea of how agencies are conducting
their contract activities and an accurate report on who is
getting the contracts, we cannot make the right changes to
ensure that small businesses participate in federal
contracting. I have a small and straightforward transparency
amendment to offer under the reporting section. My amendment
seeks to gain further transparency in the reporting process by
requiring data on why the firms are considered socially and
economically disadvantaged. The current data does not give
enough detail about what firms are actually securing the
contracts. By collecting this data we can learn more about the
firms that are currently receiving federal contracts. This
amendment simply says that the reports by the administrator
will also include the reason that the certification of the
small business is considered socially and economically
disadvantaged. Thus, we will get a better picture of the small
and disadvantaged business category.
Again, this amendment is simple and straightforward and I
ask for the Committee's support.
Chairman Graves. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the
amendment?
With that, when H.R. 3850 was drafted it sought to increase
transparency into who is receiving contracts and how they were
receiving those contracts. The gentlelady's amendment furthers
that goal giving us additional insight into which companies are
winning government contracts, and I do support the amendment.
Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Graves. Yes.
Ms. Velazquez. If I may.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely.
Ms. Velazquez. I will encourage my colleagues to support
this straightforward common sense amendment. As we have seen
with prior reports from GAO, many businesses that are not
qualified as small businesses are getting contracts and this is
a way to add another layer of transparency.
Chairman Graves. So with that the question is on the
amendment offered by Ms. Chu. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. It is the
opinion of the chair that the amendment is agreed to.
Let us see here. The next amendment would be Representative
Peters. Clerk, would you please read the amendment?
The Clerk. Amendment 3 to H.R. 3850 offered by Mr. Peters
of Michigan.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read. The member is recognized for five minutes.
Mr. Peters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am certainly pleased that H.R. 3850, the Small Business
Contracting Act, raises the small businesses contracting goal
from 23 to 25 percent. This is certainly going to mean a
substantial amount of new business for small businesses. In
fact, probably around $11 billion worth, which is an incredible
accomplishment. However, my amendment would simply increase the
government-wide goal for participation by small businesses that
are owned and controlled by socially and economically
disadvantaged individuals. Currently set at 5 percent, it would
move it up to 7\1/2\ percent. While I recognize this appears to
be a significant increase, it is one that is certainly very
achievable. In fact, the SBA has reported that prime
contracting achievement of almost 8 percent in 2010 and it was
above 7\1/2\ percent in 2009. So this amendment will simply
ensure that the government continues its recent successes in
contracting with small businesses that are owned by socially or
economically disadvantaged folks. Meeting this goal for the
socially and economically disadvantages small businesses will
certainly help us reach the overall goal of 25 percent.
Certainly, the bar of 5 percent has been met. It has been
achieved and actually exceeded. This amendment will make sure
that we do not backslide from our current levels which are over
7\1/2\ percent and I would urge my colleagues to put this
benchmark in place having already achieved the other one.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be
recognized on the amendment?
Ms. Hahn. Excellent. Excellent amendment.
Mr. Coffman. Mr. Chairman, how do you define socially
disadvantaged? I think there would probably be people that
would place me in that category. How do you define that? Mr.
Peters?
Chairman Graves. The gentleman is recognized.
Mr. Peters. It is already determined in the legislation. We
are not adding a new definition that does not already exist in
the statute. Basically, economic disadvantaged is determined by
personal net worth, which is outlined in the legislation
already. Social disadvantage includes a broad array of groups.
African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Alaska
Natives, Native Hawaiians, or enrolled members of federally or
state recognized Indian tribes, Asian-Pacific Americans, and
members of other groups that have been designated by the SBA.
So this amendment does not change any of those designations. It
simply puts the goal, which has already been achieved, just
sets that floor what we are already achieving so we do not
backslide from where we are.
Chairman Graves. Ms. Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. Yes. I would like to say, Mr. Chairman, that
I commend the gentleman's amendment. There are over 323,000
active profiles of businesses who have registered to contract
with the federal government. Of this, more than 53 percent are
self-certified or SBA certified small business disadvantaged
businesses whose contracts are eligible to be counted towards
this category. The current 5 percent goal really does not
represent this business participation in the federal
marketplace. This amendment will ensure that the goals more
closely meter the market participation of this class of small
businesses.
Additionally, the federal government has met and exceeded
the goal for contracts to this category of small businesses. By
raising this goal we are ensuring that we do not remain
stagnant in awarding contracts to small businesses. And I will
ask my colleagues to support this amendment.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be heard?
Mr. Cicilline. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Yes. Mr. Cicilline.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, want to
compliment the sponsor of this amendment, and at a time when I
think there is enormous empirical evidence that the divide
between many communities in this country is growing wider and
wider and becoming more and more challenging for new start up
small businesses and having just raised the goal to 25 percent
I think it is really important that we ensure that we at the
same time raise this goal. And I want to compliment the
gentlemen for this excellent amendment and urge everyone to
support it.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be heard?
Seeing none, as Chairman of the Small Business Committee I
have tried not to favor one group of small businesses over
another and I do not want to pick winners and losers, and I
want to help all small businesses compete. And right now we
have one small business goal and four subcategory goals--women,
service-disabled veterans, HUBZone firms, and small
disadvantaged businesses. Each of these subcategories of small
businesses can compete for small business contracts, so they
all win when we increase the small business goal. However, when
we increase the small disadvantaged business goal, only about
9,200 firms benefit instead of the 350,000 small firms
currently seeking to do business with the federal government.
Indeed, this amendment will completely subsume a 2 percent
increased proposal by H.R. 3850 and then take another half
percent, reducing opportunities for firms that are not small
disadvantaged businesses. Therefore, I am afraid I cannot
support the amendment.
With that the question is on the amendment by Mr. Peters.
All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
[Chorus of noes.]
Chairman Graves. It is the opinion of the chair that the
nos have it. The nos do have it.
Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Yes.
Ms. Velazquez. Call for a vote.
Chairman Graves. Okay.
Mr. Peters. May I request a record roll call?
Chairman Graves. Absolutely. A recorded vote is requested.
Pursuant to Rule 10 of the Committee's Rules of Proceedings on
the Bill Amendment will be postponed. What we are going to do
is stack so that we do not get members hung up because we have
got a vote coming up here pretty quick and then we will try to
get everybody back over and we will pick that up so we have one
recorded vote now on Mr. Peters.
Next recognize--will the clerk--we have got Ms. Ellmers'
amendment up on 3850. Will the clerk please read the title?
The Clerk. Amendment 4 to H.R. 3850 offered by Ms. Ellmers
from North Carolina.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read.
Ms. Ellmers, you are recognized for five minutes.
Ms. Ellmers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My amendment directs agencies, including the GSA, to abide
by small business contracting goals of the Small Business Act
when using commercial leasing services. Small business brokers
such as Carpenter/Robbins, ICI, and Public Properties have had
several projects in my home state of North Carolina. Recently,
Public Properties provided support for the completion of a VA
outpatient clinic in Wilmington, North Carolina and a VA health
care clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina. My amendment would
allow these small business brokers to compete for these leases.
That completion will in turn provide lower prices for the
federal government and taxpayers. Further, these small brokers
offer specialized services, such as finding a hospital for the
VA or a port for the NOAA.
Under current law, GSA is not legally bound to follow small
business goals to procure leases with nonappropriated funds.
This amendment protects small business government procurement
contracting opportunities by (1) ensuring that the GSA must
abide by the small business contracting goals outlined in the
Small Business Act, as well as the amendments here in H.R.
3850, makes the SBA; and (2) ensures small business concerns
are protected in commercial leasing. And I ask my colleagues of
the Committee to approve and support this amendment. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be heard on
the amendment?
Ms. Velazquez. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Ms. Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. I strike the last word. In the broadest
context, commercial leasing services can include the renting of
equipment, automobiles, and trucks. It is also understood to
include real estate advisory services. Given the breadth of
this definition, it is curious that this Committee will go on
record to endorse the application of the Small Business Act
contracting provisions to such commercial leasing services. At
the very least, commercial leasing services should be defined
not just so members know what it means but so this legally
vague jargon is not applied in an unintended manner.
In addition, the small business contracting provisions
include several programs, including those for minorities,
women, and veterans. Applying such certifieds, as well as the
goal for these demographics to private sector commercial
leasing services, could lead to unintended consequences. This
could mean that we are calling for the establishment of private
sector contracting goals, as well as requiring private sector
transactions to be subject to federal set-asides for minority
women and veterans.
Given these concerns, I would like to yield to the
gentlelady for the purpose of providing some clarification on
her amendment. And I would like to ask the gentlelady if the
intent to apply the small business contracting provision to
contracts among private entities.
Ms. Ellmers. Well, the goal of this amendment is to allow
some of the smaller entities, some of the small business
entities, brokers, to be able to compete for some of these
leasing projects that some of the larger entities basically are
able to obtain.
Ms. Velazquez. Your amendment reads, ``It is the sense of
Congress that the contracting provision of the Small Business
Act shall apply to commercial leasing services.'' So it means
private buildings in the private sector?
Reclaiming my time, in your amendment it states what I
read. And this is not specific to contracts entered into by a
federal agency with a commercial leasing agent. Therefore, this
amendment could be interpreted that you are applying the Small
Business Act contracting provision from goals to set-asides to
contracts negotiated between two private parties.
So just to be clear, it is your intent to apply the
minority and women set-aside programs and the accompanying
goals for these demographic groups to commercial leasing
services contracts?
Ms. Ellmers. What we can do is offer a clarifying amendment
if that will allow your concerns.
Ms. Velazquez. Well, I would like to ask the gentlelady to
withdraw your amendment and to work with the minority and then
when we go to the floor we can work on the language.
Ms. Ellmers. Well, what I would like to do is vote on it
and see where we are. And if we need to put forward a
clarifying amendment we can do so.
Chairman Graves. Could the counsel clarify the amendment?
Counsel. Yes. I believe the intent of the amendment was to
focus solely on awarding contracts to commercial leasing
services that obtained office space for buildings for the
federal government.
Ms. Velazquez. But we are not here to discuss intent; we
are here to discuss the language of the amendment. It is not
about the intent. It is about what the language reads. It says,
``Should apply to commercial leasing services.''
Counsel. And I would argue that in the context of federal
government contracting the commercial leasing services that we
are talking about relates to public buildings and the obtaining
of leases on public buildings.
Ms. Velazquez. So could I ask the counsel to show me in the
language of this amendment where it says public buildings?
Counsel. It does not. But the definition of commercial
leasing services is those services in which if I was the
federal government and I needed office space or I needed some
other type of office space, it is not a--it is a term of art
essentially, making the argument that it is a commercial lease
in the same way that if I was in the private sector seeking
office space, I was an attorney seeking office space, that is
what I----
Ms. Velazquez. Is that defining the small business statute?
Counsel. Excuse me. I am sorry. I did not----
Ms. Velazquez. The explanation, the definition of
commercial leasing, is that defined in the small business
statute? In the Small Business Act?
Counsel. No, it is not.
Ms. Velazquez. Okay.
Chairman Graves. Would it be possible--could we--while we
take a break for votes--to perfect this? Is that possible?
Ms. Ellmers. From my end that is agreeable.
Chairman Graves. And we will just skip over. We will try to
get another one. We will just stop at the moment if you guys
think you can work it out.
Ms. Velazquez. Would the gentlelady ask unanimous consent
to withdraw the amendment?
Chairman Graves. If you want to, Ms. Ellmers, if you want
to withdraw it and then we will come back to it if you guys can
perfect it over this vote series, whatever it is.
Ms. Ellmers. Okay. I would ask unanimous consent to
withdraw at this time with that intent.
Chairman Graves. Try to work that out and then we will come
right back to it. So we will postpone what we are doing on
3850.
We will move directly to 3851, which is the next order of
business, the Small Business Advocate Act of 2012. The purpose
of this bill is to ensure that the Offices of Small and
Disadvantaged Business utilization within each federal agency
have the clout to be effective advocates for small business
concerns and that they focus their resources in a way that
helps small businesses compete for contracts.
As the Committee uncovered this year, some agencies have
been selling small businesses shot by making the director of
the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization also
serve as the chief acquisition officer, chief financial
officer, and one of a half dozen other titles. In each case the
responsibility for small businesses got passed down to a lower
level individual so small businesses lack the senior advocate
envisioned by the statute. This bill addresses the problem by
promoting the directors to enroll where they are the peer of
the senior acquisition personnel and requiring that small
businesses be the director's primary responsibility. It also
clarifies the types of assistance the office should provide and
reinforces the role of the office when it comes to government-
wide procurement policy.
Again, I believe that this bill deserves bipartisan
support. I urge the Committee to pass it, and I now recognize
Ranking Member Velazquez for her remarks.
Ms. Velazquez. I do not have a statement to make at this
point, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Okay, now, the Committee now moves
consideration of 3851. Clerk, please report the bill.
The Clerk. H.R. 3851, To Amend the Small Business Act with
Respect to Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business
Utilization and for Other Purposes.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, H.R. 3851 is considered
read and open for amendment at any point. And I do have an
amendment. Will the clerk please report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment 1 to H.R. 3851 offered by Mr. Graves
of Missouri.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read.
What this amendment does is develop through cooperation
with the ranking member and improves 3851 by adding minimum
requirements for the position of director of the Office of
Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. Specifically, it
requires that the director have at least 10 years of experience
in government contracting and enumerates how this experience
can be gained. Small businesses need strong advocates to
require that they have a base level of knowledge makes sense,
and I urge the Committee to accept the amendment.
Are there any other members wishing to be heard on the
amendment?
Seeing none the question is on the amendment by myself, the
chairman. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The opinion of the chair is that the ayes have it. The ayes
do have it.
Now we have an amendment from Representative Hahn. Will the
clerk please read the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment 2 to H.R. 3851 offered by Ms. Hahn of
California.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read.
Congresswoman Hahn, you are recognized for five minutes.
Ms. Hahn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
Velazquez.
I am offering this amendment because my hometown of Los
Angeles is facing a severe unemployment crisis and although it
has improved over the past year the unemployment rate is still
10.9 percent in Los Angeles, well above the national average of
8.3 percent. We know small businesses are the engines of our
economic growth and the heartbeat of the American economy. It
is these entrepreneurs who put Americans to work and fuel the
innovation and development that has made this economy the best
in the world.
My amendment requires small business specialists to give
priority to small businesses located in areas like Los Angeles
where the unemployment rate is higher than the national
average. This will ensure that assistance will be focused where
it is needed most and fastest. Not only is this a win for small
businesses struggling to succeed in ailing local economies but
it is a win for workers who have been unable to find work in
the worst job markets in this country. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the
amendment? We have 12 minutes. Oh, it has been called.
Seeing none, I think this amendment is going to encourage
small business advocates to provide technical assistance in
areas with high unemployment rates. And since the Office of
Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization currently provides
assistance to all small businesses, I do not anticipate this
will take assistance away from any small business; instead, it
will help focus them on the fact that small businesses are job
creators and it is going to help the overall economy. I do
support the amendment.
With that the question is on the amendment by the
gentlelady Ms. Hahn. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it.
Does anyone else wish to have an amendment? I do not think
they do.
Seeing none then the question is going to be on agreeing to
H.R. 3851 as amended. All those in favor say aye.
Mr. Keating. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Yes. Who is calling? Yes. Mr. Keating.
Mr. Keating. Point of order.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely.
Mr. Keating. We do not have the redrafted amendment before
us. We were going to do that afterwards.
Chairman Graves. That is the bill before this.
Mr. Keating. Okay.
Chairman Graves. We postponed that. This is the second bill
we are going to try to run through. This is 3851. The one that
was postponed with the amendment was 3850.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely. No problem.
It is the opinion of the chair that the ayes do have it and
H.R. 3851 ----
Mr. Keating. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Yes.
Mr. Keating. I request a recorded vote.
Chairman Graves. All right. A recorded vote has been
requested. Let us go ahead and dispense with this one. Clerk,
please call the roll, 3851.
The Clerk. Chairman Graves.
Chairman Graves. Aye.
The Clerk. Chairman Graves votes aye.
Mr. Barletta.
Mr. Barletta. Aye.
The Clerk. I am sorry. Mr. Bartlett.
Mr. Chabot.
The Clerk. Mr. King.
Mr. Coffman.
Mr. Coffman. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Coffman votes aye.
Mr. Mulvaney.
Mr. Mulvaney. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Mulvaney votes aye.
Mr. Tipton.
The Clerk. Mr. Landry.
Ms. Herrera Beutler.
Mr. West.
Mr. West. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. West votes aye.
Ms. Ellmers.
Ms. Ellmers. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Ellmers votes aye.
Mr. Walsh.
Mr. Barletta.
Mr. Barletta. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Barletta votes aye.
Mr. Hanna.
Mr. Schilling.
Mr. Schilling. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Schilling votes aye.
Ranking Member Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. Aye.
The Clerk. Ranking Member Velazquez votes aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Schrader.
Mr. Schrader. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Schrader votes aye.
Mr. Critz.
Mr. Critz. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Critz votes aye.
Ms. Clarke.
Ms. Clarke. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Clarke votes aye.
Ms. Chu.
Ms. Chu. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Chu votes no.
Mr. Cicilline.
Mr. Cicilline. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Cicilline votes no.
Mr. Richmond.
Mr. Richmond. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Richmond votes no.
Ms. Hahn.
Ms. Hahn. I like my amendment but I am going to vote no on
the bill.
The Clerk. Ms. Hahn votes no.
Mr. Peters.
Mr. Peters. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Peters votes no.
Mr. Owens.
Mr. Owens. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Owens votes no.
Mr. Keating.
Mr. Keating. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Keating votes no.
Chairman Graves. Are there any other members wishing to
vote? Seeing none, report----
The Clerk. 11 ayes, 7 nos.
Chairman Graves. The vote is 11 ayes, 7 nos. The bill is
favorably reported to the House. And without objection the
Committee is authorized to correct punctuation and make other
necessary technical corrections on the document concerned
today. So ordered.
When we come back we are going to move onto, if we can
dispense with 3850. We will try if you all get it worked out.
If not, we will move on to 3891. And with that we have 7
minutes 52 seconds. Well, you have got it up there. So we are
recessed until as soon as we get back. So please hurry back.
[Recess.]
Chairman Graves. The Committee will come back to order.
Let us see. We are going to go out of order real quick
while we get the rest of our members here. And we are going to
now pick up H.R. 4121, the Early Stage Small Business
Contracting Act. Let us see.
Can the clerk report the file?
The Clerk. H.R. 4121, To Provide for a Program to Provide
Federal Contracts to Early Stage Small Businesses and for Other
Purposes.
Chairman Graves. All right. Without objection--we will
assume that it has been read. The bill has been read, 4121.
H.R. 4121 helps the early stage small businesses by
removing the barriers to entry in the federal procurement,
making sure that the smallest businesses have the opportunity
to compete and make sense and this bill does have my support.
And with that I recognize Ranking Member Velazquez for any
remarks on 4121.
Ms. Velazquez. With the economy facing challenging times
over the last few years much has been stated about the power of
small businesses to lead us forward. However, what is clear is
that among small firms, those that generate the greatest number
of jobs also happen to be in the early stages. In fact, recent
research shows that these early stage small businesses are
responsible for the majority of job creations over the last 30
years. This means that it is imperative to not simply think
about small businesses when we are designing policies but more
specifically those firms that show a greater likelihood to grow
and create employment gains.
With this in mind, channeling a small portion of the half
trillion dollar federal marketplace to these very small firms
is sensible policy. For this reason I am strongly supporting
H.R. 4121. It builds on past efforts to accomplish this goal,
enabling agencies to award contracts based on the existing
mechanism used in other government-wide programs, including the
general small business HUBZone, service disabled veterans, and
the 8A. Such a move is appropriate and it will help educate and
train these firms in government procurement practice which is
critical as they grow larger.
I want to thank Mr. Schrader for his work on this issue and
also again recognize the chairman for his openness in working
with us on this legislation. Early stage businesses are an
important engine for job creation and I look forward to
advancing this legislation that will help these companies
expand and grow stronger.
Thank you and I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Thank you, Ms. Velazquez.
H.R. 4121 is now under consideration and will now consider
amendments to it.
Ms. Velazquez. Are you going to recognize him?
Chairman Graves. Oh, I did not realize--absolutely.
Absolutely. I did not realize----
Mr. Schrader. Just a comment, if I may. I appreciate that,
Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate consumer confidence is increasing and it looks
like the jobless claims are finally at a three year low but
more needs to be done I think for our truly small businesses.
These early stage small firms are critical to both our national
economy and also to my home state of Oregon. We have 108,000
businesses and more than one-quarter of those are very small
firms with less than 25 employees. So helping these firms to
mature and grow will be a key ingredient to getting our
unemployment back and our economy back on track.
For manufacturing, technology, and R&D, many new young
businesses I think would be very well positioned to do business
with the federal government. Unfortunately, they face
significant hurdles tapping into the marketplace. They do not
have an in-house contracting team. They lack the experience
navigating complexities of this whole process. So hopefully
this legislation will make a huge difference in making it
easier for these guys to start up. In fact, I think in Oregon
alone it is estimated that this could be 500 or more contracts
for struggling small businesses for hard-working Oregonians and
ultimately Americans.
So if we do not want to foster early stage businesses I
would urge an aye vote. And thank you very much for hearing the
bill, sir.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely. Does any other member wish to
be recognized on 4121?
Seeing none it is now open for amendment, which I have an
amendment to offer. Will the clerk please report the amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment 1 to H.R. 4121, Chairman Graves of
Missouri.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read. What this amendment does is it simply
strikes a note to the current statute that is going to be
obsolete and confusing if Mr. Schrader's bill becomes law. And
I urge the Committee to accept the amendment. Does anyone wish
to be heard on the amendment?
With that, seeing none, the question is on the amendment by
myself, Mr. Graves, to 4121. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The
amendment is adopted. Does anyone else have any other
amendments?
All right. Seeing none the question is on agreeing to H.R.
4121 as amended. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The opinion of the chair is the ayes have it. The ayes do
have it. H.R. 4121 is agreed to. And without objection and a
quorum being present, the bill is favorably reported to the
House.
Okay. Are we ready to go back? Just go back in line. Okay,
now we will get back in order.
The next order would be 3893, the Subcontracting
Transparency and Reliability Act of 2012 introduced by Mr.
Mulvaney, which I strongly support the bill and I yield to Mr.
Mulvaney to speak on 3893.
Mr. Mulvaney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Subcontracting
Transparency and Reliability Act, H.R. 3893, addresses a number
of small business contracting issues that we identified during
our subcommittee hearings first. It changes the limitations on
subcontracting provisions from cost to price to make it easier
for legitimate small businesses to determine if they are
complying with limitations. The bill adds a penalty for small
businesses that do not comply with limitations and cracks down
on those small businesses that front for larger businesses.
Also, the bill allows small businesses to team with other
similar small businesses in order to complete the contract,
giving more businesses the opportunity to learn and participate
in the federal contracting process.
Secondly, the bill strengthens the prime contractor
reporting requirements. This makes it easier for contracting
officer to determine if there are real subcontracting
opportunities for small business and to catch and punish large
businesses who are bad actors. These provisions bring
additional transparency and reliability to the contracting
process.
Finally, the bill addresses the problem of in-sourcing, the
subject of several hearings that we had. It is the process by
which the government takes work currently awarded through
private sector competition and converts it into work performed
by federal employees. The act requires or the bill requires
federal agencies to publish their insourcing processes and give
small businesses standing to challenge agency insourcing
decisions.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. I now recognize Ranking Member Velazquez
for her remarks on 3893.
Ms. Velazquez. I do not have any remarks on the bill. I
have remarks on the amendment.
Chairman Graves. All right. Any other members wish to seek
recognition on 3893? Seeing none, I support H.R. 3893 because
it will make it easier for small businesses to comply with
rules about how much of the work they must perform on a set-
aside contract and make it easier for the government to catch
businesses fronting for dishonest large firms, a practice
commonly known as pass-throughs. It also improves opportunities
for small businesses as subcontractors. And finally, it adds
transparency to insourcing practices by requiring that agencies
publish the process by which they make insourcing decisions.
Again, I believe that this bill deserves bipartisan support
and I urge the Committee to pass it.
The Committee now moves consideration of H.R. 3893. The
clerk please report the title.
The Clerk. H.R. 3893, To Amend the Small Business Act with
Respect to Subcontracting and Insourcing and for Other
Purposes.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, H.R. 3893 is considered
as read and open for amendment at this point. Does anyone have
an amendment? I think Mr. Mulvaney has the first one.
Mr. Mulvaney. I do. We have a manager's amendment, Mr.
Chairman. Two small things. The act, as originally drafted,
codified limitations on subcontracting for construction
contracts. In speaking with the administration, however, we
learned that this was traditionally done through public
rulemaking and not through statutes. So the manager's amendment
resolves that. It removes the limitation on subcontracting for
construction and statute and allows the administrator to
continue the established practice of setting the limitations
through rulemaking. It also provides some flexibility at the
agency level to address small business needs in construction
contracts. Finally, there is a technical change to further
clarify that small businesses are the entities which have
standing to challenge in-sourcing decisions.
Chairman Graves. We will go ahead--I forgot to report the
amendment. Will the clerk please read the title?
The Clerk. Amendment 1, the H.R. 3893 offered by Mr.
Mulvaney of South Carolina.
Chairman Graves. Okay. The amendment is considered read.
Does any other member wish to be heard on the amendment?
Ms. Velazquez. Yes.
Chairman Graves. Ranking Member Velazquez, please.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This amendment offered by Congressman Mulvaney will
simplify the limitations on subcontracting for small businesses
as it moves the calculations from cost spend to total price of
the contract. Additionally, it significantly scales back the
in-sourcing provisions of the original text. Without this
amendment, any business will be able to challenge the decision
of agencies to convert the performance of a function to federal
employees. A DoD-alone action for more than $900 million worth
of contracts will have been eligible for protest; 846 million
being performed by large businesses. This will have been
detrimental to the contracting process as agencies will have to
spend their time litigating cases rather than ensuring that
functions essential to running their departments were being
performed. However, under this new language only small
businesses will be able to challenge when functions that they
are performing are converted to performance by federal
employees. At DoD, this will mean that only 6 percent of their
insourcing decisions will have been eligible for protest. Small
businesses can use this as a tool to ensure the functions being
performed by small businesses are not being converted before
those functions are performed by large businesses.
And with that I support the amendment.
Chairman Graves. Thank you, Ranking Member Velazquez. Does
anyone else wish to be heard on the amendment?
Seeing none this amendment was developed in a bipartisan
manner with the ranking member. It does clarify the intention
of the bill and I think it is going to improve the process for
small businesses and it has my support.
The question is on the adoption of the amendment. All those
in favor say aye.
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The opinion of the chair is the ayes have it. The amendment
is agreed to.
The next amendment is Representative Clarke. And will the
clerk please report.
The Clerk. Amendment 2 to H.R. 3893 offered by Ms. Clarke
of New York.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered as read.
Ms. Clarke, five minutes.
Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Clarke. Everyone here supports federal contracting, and
I consider myself to be an ardent, outspoken, forceful, and
unapologetic advocate for minority women and veteran-owned
federal contractors. However, the provisions of this bill that
my amendment strikes does nothing more than make it nearly
impossible for federal agencies to even have the option to
insource without a prolonged delay regardless of the reason for
the insourcing. While there are parts of this bill that I find
agreeable, I unfortunately cannot support it in its current
form. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I
yield to my colleague and friend, Ms. Chu.
Ms. Chu. Thank you, Representative Clarke, for yielding
some time.
First of all, I would like to say that I appreciate
Representative Mulvaney's efforts to improve subcontracting
opportunities for small business. The hearing that we held
together on subcontracting exposed a number of areas where
small businesses were taken advantage of by the prime
contractor. We were both dismayed at this since subcontracting
is an important entry point for small firms to get experience
in federal contracting. With this bill, the federal
subcontracting reporting system can track compliance with
subcontracting plans so that contracting officers, SBA, and the
Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization can be
notified of any potential violations. This is a positive step
forward for small businesses.
However, I do support Representative Clarke's amendment to
strike the language in the bill regarding insourcing. The
insourcing provision will expand legal standing to any small
business contractor to challenge any agency's decision to
insource any function when contractors already have legal
standing sufficient to challenge agencies' decisions in the
Court of Federal Claims as well as in the Government
Accountability Office. This provision can delay decisions made
by agencies until they are wholly made public for comment. Some
functions of agencies are not appropriate for public
consumption nor made for contract lawyers and procurement
judges. Besides that, the National Defense Authorization Act
has twice codified the use of insourcing as an effective tool
to rebalance the workforce, to realign inherently governmental
work and to generate resource efficiencies. I agree that we
have to do all that we can to support small businesses
receiving federal contracts but I do not think that restricting
insourcing is the right answer.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be heard on
the amendment? Do you want to go?
Ms. Velazquez. He should go.
Chairman Graves. Mr. Mulvaney.
Mr. Mulvaney. Very briefly, and I appreciate the comments.
Keep in mind, the language that we are talking about here is
fairly simple and straightforward. The language that they are
seeking to strike in this amendment reads--it takes 15
seconds--''a federal agency may only convert a function.'' That
is the formal word for insource. ``May only convert a function
that is being performed by small business to performance by a
federal employee if (1) the agency has made publicly available
after providing notice and an opportunity for public comment
the procedures of the agency with respect to decisions to
convert.'' All we are asking is that these agencies will
publish and give folks the terms and conditions under which
they want to consider insourcing.
We had regular testimony here--I think we did two separate
hearings on this--about folks simply--small businesses not
knowing what rules an agency was going to play by; that they
did not know what targets they were trying to hit. They did not
know the conditions under which their contract might be
insourced and you could easily make the case that if we would
simply publish these rules and let the small businesses know
the terms and conditions under which they are up for possible
insourcing, that small business could adjust their contract,
adjust their services in order to keep the service being
performed by small business. So I think in the long run and the
short-term this will continue to encourage the use of small
business when it comes to government contracts.
Regarding the standing, I think the criticisms are fair but
I think they are more applicable to the original version of the
bill. I think we solved many, if not all of the standing--the
potential abuses of the standing issue and the manager's
amendment which we have already adopted. So while I think it is
a valid criticism, I think we have already solved that problem
and the standing issue is now limited only to bona fide small
businesses who are actually impacted by the decision. So with
that I would encourage a yea vote on the amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Ranking Member Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Chairman, I strike the last word.
I have been clear today. Insourcing has supporters on both
sides of the issue. Proponents believe that private businesses
can perform tasks more efficiently than federal employees.
Contrarily, opponents believe that certain functions are
inherently governmental and should be only undertaken by
employees. For work being performed by small businesses, this
issue only becomes more important because small firms
themselves create jobs at a rate that far exceeds other sectors
of the economy. In this regard, I recognize the efforts of the
chairman to put forward a manager's amendment to clarify that
the insourcing provisions only pertain to small firms. In fact,
prior to that change 100 percent of agencies' insourcing
decisions would have been subject to the bill's provision. Now,
the scope has been dramatically reduced so that, for example,
only 6 percent of the Department of Defense contracts are
subject to that restriction.
While reducing the impact of the bill by 94 percent is a
good start, we need to continue to work towards ensuring that
there is no impact at all. There is still work to be done to
ensure that this process does not simply create a web of costly
litigation for agencies without the intended increase in new
jobs, except possibly for the attorneys contesting the protest.
It is crucial that this new protest procedure does not simply
waste scarce government resources, clog the GAO, and delay
legitimate protests and provide no proven benefit to the
taxpayers.
With this concern in mind, I am supporting the gentlelady's
amendment and urging a yes vote. However, it is important to
again recognize that we have come a long way, and again, I want
to thank the chairman for truly minimizing the effect of this
provision. With that I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be heard on
the amendment?
Do you want to clarify your position?
Mr. Mulvaney. Yes, other than to change my encouragement
for an aye vote to a no vote. Yes, I got the word wrong. But
other than that the sentiment remains the same. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Any other member wish to be recognized?
This amendment would strip all the insourcing protections I
think for the small businesses from H.R. 3893 and there seems
to be three arguments against insourcing provisions. First,
there is a question of whether the Offices of Small and
Disadvantaged Businesses and the Procurement Center
representatives should even be involved in the process.
Frankly, I do not understand why this is an issue because the
administration's own Office of Federal Procurement Policy, SBA,
Administrator Mills, and the Director of the Minority Business
Development Agency sent out a guidance last year directing the
agencies to involve the small business representatives when
insourcing small business work. And that is exactly what we are
trying to do with this bill.
Second, there is a question as to whether insourcing
guidance should be published. Right now I know of a business
that may have its contract insource this month for cost
purposes and they requested information on the contracting
agency's insourcing processes under the Freedom of Information
Act, only to have their FOIA request denied. A small business
should not be losing a contract under secret process.
Transparent, repeated processes must be required. Repeatable
processes must be required.
And finally, there is the question of GAO protests. The
process that governs outsourcing allows the government
employees to protest to GAO and this provision would simply
give small businesses the same rights. Since I know of small
businesses that have lost their companies after insourcing
decisions, they should have some due process right. And for
these reasons I cannot support the gentlelady's amendment, and
I urge my colleagues to oppose it.
With that the question is on Ms. Clarke's amendment to
3893. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
[Chorus of noes.]
Chairman Graves. The nos appear to have it. The nos do have
it.
With that--thank you very much--with that we will move on
to the next order of business.
Are there any other amendments, I guess, before we close?
Any other amendments?
Seeing none, the question now is agreeing to H.R. 3893 as
amended. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
[Chorus of noes.]
Chairman Graves. It is the opinion of the chair that the
ayes have it. The ayes do have it.
H.R. 3893 is agreed to. Without objection, a quorum being
present, the bill is favorably reported to the House.
Without objection, the Committee is authorized to correct
punctuation and make any other necessary technical corrections
of the document considered today. Without any objection that is
so ordered.
The next order of business. The next order of business is
H.R. 3980, the Small Business Opportunity Act of 2012
introduced by Ms. Herrera Beutler and Mr. Schrader. I yield to
Ms. Herrera Beutler to speak on 3980.
Ms. Herrera Beutler. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would
like to say publicly thank you, Chairman Graves and to your
staff for helping make this important bill--help us bring it
before this Committee today. I would also like to thank Ranking
Member Velazquez. And further, my partner in this effort, Mr.
Schrader, for joining me in introducing this bipartisan piece
of legislation. And all my colleagues who have co-sponsored the
bill.
You know, I am pleased, Mr. Chairman, to introduce the
Small Business Opportunity Act. This bill improves the
acquisition planning process and empowers procurement center
representatives--PCRs is what I am going to refer to them as--
to be better advocates for small businesses. This is going to
mean more jobs and more economic opportunities in Southwest
Washington where I represent and across the country.
Procurement center representatives are Small Business
Administration employees inside federal agencies. So they are
advocates inside these agencies directly responsible for
ensuring small businesses get the opportunity to compete for
federal contracts. They review federal contracts with the
single goal of providing small businesses a level playing field
on which to compete. Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, PCRs are not
given the opportunity to perform their jobs to the best of
their abilities.
Why, you might ask. At times agencies fail to send those
procurement documents for their review. When they do receive
those documents, at times the review is the last step in the
procurement process, meaning they get it once the package is
only complete. Everything has been all but finalized but when
the PCR actually receives it. So this limits the PCR's ability
to meaningful alter or improve the contracts that will benefit
small businesses. So basically it is keeping them off the table
or not at the table. So instead of reviewing contracts,
procurement center representatives often spend a great deal of
time contracting personnel, training contracting personnel in
various small business contracting programs. This task does not
appear in their job description. So with only 58 PCRs across
the country, Mr. Chairman, they certainly do not need to be
spending their time doing other people's jobs.
So perhaps the biggest obstacles that small businesses face
when they are competing for contracts is the fact that PCRs are
directed to specifically not review contracts on commercially
available items or services. A commercially available item is
anything an everyday person would be able to purchase from a
store. Anything from a box of pencils to a laundry service.
There is absolutely no reason that small businesses should not
be given the opportunity to compete for these contracts.
Without proper input from the PCRs, many times they are
excluded.
So how do we fix this? Well, this bill, the Small Business
Opportunity Act, changes this playing field; it levels it. The
legislation clarifies that PCRs shall have access to all
documents in the acquisition planning process. Further, they
will now be consulted at the beginning of the planning process
rather than at the end when everything is put together and
given an opportunity to weigh in on behalf of small businesses
throughout the development of each contract. The Federal
acquisition Institute and the Defense Acquisition University,
which are already funded to educate federal acquisition
workforce, will be responsible for all the training, which
means we are taking it off the PCRs' plate, and it allows them
to focus on their main goal, which is advocating for small
businesses.
Mr. Chairman, small businesses across the country are eager
to compete for these contracts--for these federal contracts.
There are over 900 of them in Southwest Washington alone, in my
district, and when we have double digit unemployment and we
know that small businesses--they are the engines of our
economy, they should be given the opportunity to compete. Not
only will allowing them to better compete benefit the small
businesses in jobs that they are going to create, it is going
to increase competition, which is going to bring down bidding
prices and the dollars saved on those lower bids are taxpayer
dollars. So it is an efficient, effective use of this system,
and the Small Business Opportunity Act reforms it in a very
commonsense way.
So I urge my colleagues to adopt, and again, I thank the
ranking member and the chairman and my partner in this effort,
Mr. Schrader. I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Ms. Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. I do not have a statement.
Chairman Graves. I am sure Mr. Schrader does. Mr. Schrader.
Mr. Schrader. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just briefly want to express my support for Congresswoman
Herrera Beutler's bill. It simply clarifies the procurement
process for small businesses through enabling the PCRs to do
their job and it is a good bipartisan bill and I hope everyone
will vote for it. Thank you.
Chairman Graves. Are there any other members that wish to
be recognized for a statement on 3980?
With that I support H.R. 3980. It does modernize the role
of the procurement center representatives. Doing so will ensure
that we have qualified individuals supporting small businesses
in a manner consistent with current procurement practices. It
is also going to ensure that small businesses are considered
throughout the acquisition process, not just at the end, which
will increase small business opportunities. I believe that this
bill deserves bipartisan support and I urge the Committee to
pass it.
The Committee now moves to consideration of H.R. 3980. The
clerk will report the title.
The Clerk. H.R. 3980, To Amend the Small Business Act with
Respect to Procurement Center Representatives and Acquisition
Planning and for Other Purposes.
Chairman Graves. Without objection 3980 is considered read
and open for amendment at any point. Does anyone have an
amendment? And I believe the first one is Mr. Schilling.
Mr. Schilling. Thank you, Chairman Graves and Ranking
Member Velazquez.
Chairman Graves. Hang on just a second. Let the clerk
report.
The Clerk. Amendment 1 to H.R. 380 offered by Mr. Schilling
of Illinois.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered read. Mr. Schilling, you have five minutes.
Mr. Schilling. Thank you again. Also, I want to thank
Representative Herrera Beutler and Mr. Schrader for their
bipartisan legislation on this issue.
As we all know, PCRs are an important part of making
certain that small businesses have the opportunity to compete
for government contracts. They provide invaluable service
advice and assistance to small firms during the sometimes
lengthy and complicated procurement process. That being said,
it is important that these advocates have the necessary
training to advise small businesses. My amendment adds an
important clarification for PCRs who have not achieved the
certification requirements in this legislation.
As currently written, I believe H.R. 3980 may result in the
SBA having to let go of PCRs that do not meet the certification
requirements in the bill. I fear this would harm small
businesses by abruptly interrupting the process but also these
PCRs could lose their jobs which we do not need any more
unemployment, of course. But my amendment would provide current
PCRs with an additional time, five years, to receive the
necessary certification and training to comply with the
improvements offered by H.R. 3980 and help them properly assist
our job creators. It is a good bill. I think it is a short,
sweet amendment and I would hope to have your support on it. I
yield back.
Chairman Graves. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the
Amendment No. 1 by Mr. Schilling?
With that, this member provides a phase-in period for
requiring procurement center representatives to obtain federal
contracting certification. I think this amendment makes sense.
I do support the gentleman's amendment.
The question is on the amendment offered by Mr. Schilling.
All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The
amendment is adopted.
The next amendment would be Ms. Chu. Would the clerk please
report the title.
The Clerk. Amendment 2 to H.R. 3980 offered by Ms. Chu of
California.
Chairman Graves. Without objection the amendment is
considered read. You have five minutes.
Ms. Chu. Mr. Chair, I am supportive of the improvements
that this bill is making to procurement center representatives
and acquisition planning. Many of these comments and changes
are long overdue. With the same thought in mind, my amendment
would require training in small business prime contracting
programs for PCRs, OSDBU directors, contracting officers, and
business opportunity specialists. Basically, personnel involved
in contracting and procurement for small business. The prime
contracting programs include the 8A program, the HUBZone
program, the service-disabled veteran-owned small business
program, and the women-owned small business program. It is
surprising, but not all contracting officers and PCRs
understand the requirements of the unique characteristics each
business owner faces. By giving them this training on these
businesses, these personnel can only be more successful in
their work on behalf of small businesses.
Chairman Graves. Any other member wish to be heard on the
amendment?
Ms. Velazquez. Well, I would encourage all the members to
support this amendment. It is straightforward common sense. It
will add to the federal acquisition process and will enable
those PCRs to really understand when to help small businesses.
And I encourage support for this amendment.
Chairman Graves. Any other member wish to be heard?
Seeing none, this amendment does clarify that training on
the Small Business Act's contract and provisions means that all
the small business contracting programs--it requires that other
small business contracting advocates, not just PCRs have a
federal contracting certification. Educating contractors and
small business advocates is going to increase the quality of
government contracting and the number of awards to small
businesses. I do support the amendment.
And with that, the question is on the amendment offered by
Ms. Chu. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The
amendment is adopted.
The next amendment is with Mr. Richmond. Will the clerk
please report the title.
The Clerk. Amendment 3 to H.R. 3980 offered by Mr. Richmond
of Louisiana.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, the amendment is
considered as read. Mr. Richmond, you have five minutes.
Mr. Richmond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to thank
both sides and the authors for bringing this bill.
My amendment simply acknowledges the fact that we are
losing a large number of our acquisition workforce and this
would request that the GAO look at that and see--and report
back to us on the impact that it is having on small businesses
so that we can make sure that staffing levels in the future
will not impact the sustainability of small businesses. And
that is simply what it does. And I would ask everyone to
support it.
Chairman Graves. Anyone else wish to be heard on the
amendment?
Seeing none, this amendment, it does require, just as Mr.
Richmond pointed out, it requires GAO to report on potential
retirements in the acquisition workforce and how they are going
to relate to small businesses. When the workforce is
inadequate, they tend to bundle contracts and that is a real
problem as we have seen in this Committee. I do think this
topic is worth further study and I support the amendment.
With that, the question is on the amendment by Mr.
Richmond. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The
amendment is adopted.
Are there any other amendments?
Seeing none, the question is on agreeing to H.R. 3980 as
amended. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed no.
In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it and H.R. 3980
is agreed to. Without objection, a quorum being present, the
bill is favorably reported to the House. And without objection,
the Committee is authorized to correct punctuation and make
other necessary technical corrections to the document
considered today which is so ordered.
So this brings us back to 3850. Is that correct?
[Recess.]
Chairman Graves. All right. I missed 4118. The next order
of business is 4118. Then we will come back to 3850.
The next order of business is 4118, Small Business
Procurement Improvement Act of 2012 offered by Mr. Critz. 4118
addresses the problem of how the procurement program of the
Small Business Act apply to multiple award contracts and the
role of the Small Business Administration in making those
procurement policies. The Small Business Act never exempted
multiple award contracts, but agencies have routinely acted as
it did despite the Government Accountability Office holding
otherwise. This bill corrects that problem and puts the SBA on
the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, which is going to
ensure that small businesses have a larger voice in federal
procurement. This bill does have my support.
I recognize Ranking Member Velazquez. Or do you want to go
to Mr. Critz?
Ms. Velazquez. Over the last decade, historically
significant trends have overtaken the federal procurement
marketplace. While the government has nearly doubled its
spending to half a trillion dollars, the acquisition workforce
that oversees these contracts has only grown by 10 percent. The
result is not surprising. The use of multiple award contracts
is growing rapidly, allowing agencies to award more dollars
with less time and staffing resources. This is the future of
federal contracting. These type of contracts now represent
nearly 30 percent of the federal procurement marketplace and
more than $40 billion are now awarded annually. When counting
other types of multiple award contracts, the total dollar
amount approaches $200 billion.
Given these astonishing trends, it is absolutely critical
that businesses are not left behind as these newer procurement
vehicles expand and grow. Doing so not only gives smaller firms
an opportunity to compete for awards but also gives the
government more suppliers to choose from. This improves quality
and price competition and is the number one reason this
Committee continues to fight to open up more federal contracts
to small businesses. It is against this backdrop that I offer
my strong support for H.R. 4118. At its core, the legislation
recognizes that procurement practices are evolving and this
Committee needs to act to ensure small firms are at the
forefront of these changes rather than an afterthought.
Importantly, it also places an emphasis on small business as
the highest level of federal procurement policy, a change that
is long overdue.
I want to commend Mr. Critz and also thank Chairman Graves
and his staff for their work on this important piece of
legislation. And with that I yield back.
Chairman Graves. Does any other member wish to be
recognized for a statement on H.R. 4118?
Mr. Critz.
Mr. Critz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Ranking
Member Velazquez----
Chairman Graves. Is it St. Patrick's Day already?
Mr. Critz. There was a party today. [Laughter.]
We will not be here for St. Patrick's Day so we celebrate
early. I appreciate you noticing. And often. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Velazquez for
all your work and for allowing me to present this bill. The
federal marketplace, as you know, continues growing and is now
approaching over half a trillion dollars annually.
Unfortunately, there is also a pattern of federal agencies
regularly missing their small business procurement goals of 23
percent. The total value of federal procurement marketplace
last year was $535 billion with small businesses winning $92
billion or a mere 17 percent, only three-quarters of their
goal. About 17\1/2\ billion in federal awards went to our
Pennsylvania companies, which I represent, but less than 16
percent of that went to small firms, much lower than the
national average.
In short, we are letting our small businesses down,
depriving them of opportunities that could create badly needed
jobs. In Pennsylvania we have about 485,000 citizens who are
seeking work but cannot find it. By channeling more work to
local entrepreneurs, we can help reduce those numbers, offering
more Americans the opportunity they need to secure a strong,
stable job.
The Small Business Procurement Improvement Act takes
several steps that will broaden small firms' participation in
the federal marketplace. Currently, projects no larger than
$150,000 are reserved for small businesses. However, given the
inability of the government to achieve its 23 percent goal,
more needs to be done to get contracts in the hands of small
businesses. By raising this limit to $200,000, we can expand
the number of contracts that are reserved specifically for
small businesses. This means more opportunity for small growing
firms which translates into more jobs.
Just as the size of contracts have changed, so, too, has
the specifics of how they are structured. Today federal
agencies use a variety of complex vehicles to meet their
acquisition needs. Agencies have the flexibility to purchase
goods and services through multiple award contracts like those
on the GSA schedule or effectively enter into a contract with
other federal agencies. As these types of arrangements grow
more common, it is important that small businesses be able to
win their fair share. This legislation would require that
agencies begin setting small business contracting goals that
apply to these new procurement techniques. The legislation also
enhances the SBA's ability to advocate for small firms in the
federal marketplace. By ensuring entrepreneurs have a voice at
the table, we can enhance SBA's ability to advocate for our
nation's 27.5 million small businesses, including
Pennsylvania's one million small firms. Taken together these
reforms will mean that more contracts flow to small companies,
creating jobs locally and helping drive our economic recovery
forward.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I thank
the chairman and the ranking member once again and yield back
the balance of my time.
Chairman Graves. Thank you, Mr. Critz. Anybody else wish to
be heard on the bill?
The Committee now moves to consideration of H.R. 4118. The
clerk, please report the title.
The Clerk. H.R. 4118, to Amend the Small Business Act to
Provide for Increased Small Business Participation in Multiple
Award Contracts and for Other Purposes.
Chairman Graves. Without objection, 4118 is considered as
read and open for amendment at any point. Does anyone wish to
offer an amendment? I do not think there are any.
Seeing none, the question is on agreeing to--where are we
at? Seeing none, the question is on agreeing to 4118. All those
in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The opinion of the chair is the ayes have it. 4118 is
agreed, and without objection and a quorum being present, the
bill is favorably reported to the House. And without objection
the Committee is authorized to correct punctuation and make
other necessary technical documents or corrections on the
documents considered today.
Okay. With that we are going to go back to 3850 and clean
it up which we have an amendment by Ms. Ellmers which was to be
worked out over the vote break. The Committee will now resume
consideration of H.R. 3850 in which further proceedings had
been postponed to allow the gentlewoman from North Carolina to
fix her amendment for what purpose is the gentlewoman
recognized.
Ms. Ellmers. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do have a clarification
to the amendment to be added on the end of the bill.
Chairman Graves. Will the clerk please report the
amendment.
The Clerk. Amendment 5 to H.R. 3850 offered by Ms. Ellmers
of North Carolina.
Chairman Graves. The gentlelady is recognized.
Ms. Ellmers. And I am to read the----
Chairman Graves. Yes.
Ms. Ellmers. Yes. Okay. And I believe this is agreeable to
the ranking member and I thank all of the staff for working on
this on the break.
It is the sense of Congress that the contracting provisions
of the Small Business Act shall apply to the leasing of
buildings and office space by the United States and shall not
apply to any leasing transactions between private parties.
Chairman Graves. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the
amendment? I think the amendment has been distributed.
Ms. Velazquez.
Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to take this
opportunity to thank the gentlelady for her flexibility in
revising this amendment. I still feel like the amendment is
still a solution in search of a problem but at least now we
know what the solution is.
With that I thank the chairman.
Chairman Graves. Does anyone else wish to be heard on the
amendment?
Seeing none, the question before us is on the amendment
offered by Ms. Ellmers to, let us see, what was it, 3850. All
those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All those opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The
amendment is adopted.
We have one recorded vote that is pending which appears No.
3 to H.R. 3850. Does the gentleman wish to be recognized?
Mr. Peters. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
During the vote series we had a chance to discuss this
amendment with the chairman and the ranking member. It is my
understanding there is some willingness to work on this issue
further before this bill comes to the floor. And with that in
mind and in the spirit of goodwill of working on this issue I
would move to withdraw the amendment at this time.
Chairman Graves. Mr. Peters, you have my word. We will work
on it. I am more than willing to work with folks to try to
figure something out and try to get things done and I will be
happy to work with you on it.
Mr. Peters. I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Graves. Are there any other amendments? 3850. Are
there any other amendments to 3850?
Seeing none, the question is on agreeing to--oh, yes,
ma'am.
Ms. Velazquez. Mr. Chairman, before you proceed.
Chairman Graves. Absolutely.
Ms. Velazquez. Just to clarify, we are going to be working
both sides to include some type of language in the manager's
amendment regarding Mr. Peters.
Chairman Graves. Yes, we are.
Ms. Velazquez. Okay.
Chairman Graves. Anybody else wish to be heard?
Seeing none, the question is on agreeing to H.R. 3850 as
amended. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Chairman Graves. All opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it.
Without objection and a quorum being present, the bill is
favorably reported to the House. Without objection, the
Committee is authorized to correct punctuation and make other
necessary technical corrections on the document considered
today. Without objection that is so ordered.
I think that is everything. Have I forgotten anything?
Why all the long faces? This was a good day.
With that, I appreciate everybody being here. It has been a
long afternoon but we got a lot of good stuff. We have got more
to come on this contracting stuff. We will have another hearing
in a few weeks, two weeks, to finish this stuff up. But with
that, thank you very much. I appreciate it. This hearing is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:50 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
Amendment to H.R. 3850
Offered by Ms. Hahn of California
Page 8, line 5, strike ``paragraph (2)'' and insert
``subsection (h)(2)''.
Page 8, beginning on line 23, strike ``competition in the
Contract Act'' and insert ``the Competition in Contracting Act
of 1984''.
Page 10, line 11, insert after ``President and Congress'' the
following: ``, and to make available on a public website,''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3850
Offered by Ms. Chu of California
Page 13, line 9, strike ``and''.
Page 13, line 11, insert ``and'' at the end.
Page 13, insert after line 11 the following (and redesignate
provisions accordingly):
(VI) by reason of that
concern's certification as a
small business owned and
controlled by socially and
economically disadvantaged
individuals;
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3850
Offered by Mr. Peters of Michigan
Page 3, line 18, strike ``5 percent'' and insert ``7.5
percent''.
Page 3, line 19, strike ``5 percent'' and insert ``7.5
percent''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3850
Offered by Mrs. Ellmers of North Carolina
Add, at the end of the bill, the following:
SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the contracting provisions
of the Small Business Act shall apply to commercial leasing
services.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3851
Offered by Mr. Graves of Missouri
Page 4, insert after line 19 the following (and redesignate
provisions accordingly):
(e) Requirement of Contracting Experience for OSDBU
Director.--Section 15(k) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
644(k)), as amended by this Act, is further amended, in the
matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``who shall'' and
insert the following: ``, with at least 10 years of experience
serving in any combination of the following roles: federal
contracting officer, small business technical advisor,
contracts administrator for federal government contracts,
attorney specializing in federal procurement law, small
business liaison officer, officer or employee who managed
federal government contracts for a small business, or
individual whose primary responsibilities were for the
functions and duties of sections 8, 15 or 44 of this Act. Such
officer or employee shall''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3851
Offered by Ms. Hahn of California
Page 3, beginning on line 4, strike ``Section (15)(k)(8)(B)''
and insert the following:
(1) Expansion of role.--Section (15)(k)(8)(B)
SSSS Page 3, line 6, strike ``by striking'' and insert the
following:
``--
(1) by striking''
Page 3, insert after line 7 the following:
(2) by inserting after ``of this Act'' the following:
``(giving priority in assigning to small business that
are in metropolitan statistical areas for which the
unemployment rate is higher than the national average
unemployment rate for the United States)''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3893
Offered by Mr. Mulvaney of South Carolina
Page 2, beginning on line 13, strike ``(except
construction)''.
Strike page 2, line 17, and all that follows through page 3,
line 7, and redesignate provisions accordingly.
Page 4, strike line 5 and all that follows through line 12,
and redesignate provisions accordingly.
Page 6, insert after line 3 the following:
(3) Construction projects.--The Administrator shall
establish, through public rulemaking, requirements
similar to those specified in paragraph (1) to be
applicable to contracts for general and specialty
construction and to contracts for any other industry
category not otherwise subject to the requirements of
such paragraph. The percentage applicable to any such
requirement shall be determined in accordance with
paragraph (2).
Page 18, line 2, strike ``private sector entity'' and insert
``small business concern''.
Page 18, line 12, strike ``includes any'' and insert ``means
a''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3893
Offered by Ms. Clarke of New York
Beginning on page 17, line 18, strike all that follows
through the end of the bill, and redesignate provisions
accordingly.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3980
Offered by Mr. Schilling of Illinois
Page 6, line 14, insert after ``certification'' the
following: ``, except that any person serving in such a
position on the date of enactment of this clause may continue
to serve in that position for a period of 5 years without the
required certification''.
----------
Amendment to H.R. 3980
Offered by Ms. Chu of California
Page 8, line 24, insert ``, including the requirements for
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, small business concerns
owned and controlled by women,'' before the period at the end.
Page 9, insert after line 5 the following:
(c) Requirement That Business Opportunity Specialists Be
Certified.--Section 7(j)(10)(D)(i) of the Small Business Act
(15 U.S.C. 636(j)(10)(D)(i)) is amended by inserting after ``to
assist such Program Participant.'' the following: ``The
Business Opportunity Specialist shall have a Level I Federal
Acquisition Certification in Contracting (or any successor
certification) or the equivalent Department of Defense
certification, except that a Business Opportunity Specialist
serving at the time of the date of enactment of the Small
Business Opportunity Act of 2012 may continue to serve as a
Business Opportunity Specialist for a period of 5 years
beginning on that date of enactment without such a
certification.''.
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Amendment to H.R. 3980
Offered by Mr. Richmond of Louisiana
Page 9, insert after line 5 the following:
(c) GAO Report.--Not later than 365 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall conduct a study and submit a report to the
Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and
the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the
Senate on the relationship between the size and quality of the
acquisition workforce and the Federal government's ability to
maximize the utilization of small businesses in Federal
procurement. The report shall specifically address the
following:
(1) The extent to which training on small business
contracting laws affects a contracting officer's
determination to use one of the contracting authorities
provided in the Small Business Act.
(2) The relationship between a robust Federal
acquisition workforce and small business success in
obtaining Federal contracting opportunities.
(3) The effect on economic growth if small businesses
experienced a significant reduction in small business
procurement activities.
(4) The effect of the anticipated acceleration of
retirements by the acquisition workforce on small
business procurement opportunities.
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Amendment to H.R. 4121
Offered by Mr. Graves of Missouri
Page 5, insert after line 14 the following:
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SIMILAR PROGRAM.
Section 304 of the Small Business Administration
Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 1994 (15 U.S.C. 644 note)
is repealed.
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