[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   YEAR 2000 READINESS AND SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS RESTRUCTURING AND 
                           REFORM ACT OF 1998

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                  BOND (AND KERREY) AMENDMENT NO. 3674

  Mr. SHELBY (for Mr. Bond for himself and Mr. Kerrey) proposed an 
amendment to the bill (H.R. 3412) to amend the Small Business Act and 
the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to provide for a pilot loan 
guarantee program to address Year 2000 problems of small business 
concerns and to improve the programs of the Small Business 
Administration, and for other purposes; as follows:

       Strike section 205 of the bill and insert the following:

     SEC. 205. SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL CONTRACT SET-ASIDES.

       (a) Annual Comprehensive Report.--
       (1) In general.--Section 15(h) of the Small Business Act 
     (15 U.S.C. 644(h)) is amended--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by striking ``At the conclusion of each fiscal year'' 
     inserting ``(A) Not later than April 15 of each year'';
       (ii) in the first sentence, by inserting ``during the 
     fiscal year that ended on September 30 of the preceding 
     year'' before the period; and
       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(B)(i) Not later than May 15 of each year, the 
     Administration shall submit to the Committees on Small 
     Business of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 
     comprehensive report on the extent of the participation by 
     small business concerns described in subparagraph (A) in 
     procurement contracts during the fiscal year that ended on 
     September 30 of the preceding year. In preparing the report, 
     the Administration shall use the data from the reports 
     submitted to the Administration for that fiscal year under 
     subparagraph (A), and the Federal Procurement Data System.
       ``(ii) Each comprehensive report under this subparagraph 
     shall include a detailed description and qualitative analysis 
     of the procurement data submitted to the Administration under 
     subparagraph (A).
       ``(iii)(I) The description and analysis included under 
     clause (ii) shall include a reconciliation of the apparent 
     differences, if any, between the small business participation 
     levels reported for that fiscal year and the small business 
     participation levels reported for preceding fiscal years, 
     that result from differences in classification or reporting 
     of data under this subsection. In the report, the 
     Administration shall identify the differences in 
     classification or reporting, as the case may be, and set 
     forth the statistics on total dollar values for the later 
     fiscal year as those statistics would have been calculated if 
     the categories of contracts had been classified or otherwise 
     reported without the differences.
       ``(II) The total dollar values referred to in subclause (I) 
     are the total dollar values of prime contracts awarded, total 
     dollar values of subcontracts awarded, and total dollar 
     values of prime contracts and subcontracts awarded to small 
     businesses.'';
       (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``paragraph (1)'' and 
     inserting ``paragraph (1)(A)''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(4)(A) The Administration may not issue a waiver or 
     permissive letter authorizing the head of a Federal agency or 
     the heads of any group of Federal agencies to change the 
     statistical methodology used for meeting the reporting 
     requirements of paragraph (1)(A) or (2) unless, when issued, 
     the waiver or permissive letter is accompanied by the 
     comments of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy regarding the 
     appropriateness of the decision of the Administration to 
     issue the waiver or letter.
       ``(B) No waiver or permissive letter referred to in 
     subparagraph (A) shall be effective until--
       ``(i) the Administration submits a copy of the waiver or 
     permissive letter, together with the comments of the Chief 
     Counsel for Advocacy, to the Committees on Small Business of 
     the House of Representatives and the Senate; and
       ``(ii) 30 days have elapsed since the date of the 
     submission to the committees under clause (i).''.
       (2) Inapplicability of content requirement to fiscal year 
     1998 report.--Clause (iii) of subparagraph (B) of section 
     15(h)(1) of the Small Business Act, as added by paragraph 
     (1)(A)(iii) of this subsection, does not apply to the 
     comprehensive report submitted under that subparagraph for 
     fiscal year 1998.
       (b) HUBZone Program.--Section 602(b)(2) of the Small 
     Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 (15 U.S.C. 657a note) is 
     amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (I), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (2) in subparagraph (J), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(K) the Department of Labor.''.

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