[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 82 (Thursday, May 27, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4544-S4545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  By Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. Cardin, and Ms. Landrieu):
  S. 3444. A bill to require small business training for contracting 
officers; to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, as Ranking Member of the Senate Committee 
on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I rise today, during National 
Small business Week, along with my colleague Senator Cardin, to 
introduce the Small Business Training in Federal Contracting 
Certification Act. This vital piece of legislation builds upon the 
Small Business Contracting Revitalization Act, S. 2989, which passed 
unanimously out of the Small Business Committee on March 4, and would 
require the development of small business training for contracting 
officials. The bill we introduce today would take an additional step by 
requiring contracting officials to successfully complete small business 
training prior to receiving certification in Federal contracting.
  During these devastating economic times, with small business owners 
struggling to retain jobs, much less create new jobs, it is paramount 
that small businesses have a fair opportunity to contract with Federal 
Agencies, because the Federal Government is the largest buyer of goods 
and services in the world, spending over $500 billion in fiscal year 
2009 alone. I remain frankly dismayed by the myriad ways the Federal 
Government has time and again egregiously failed to meet its statutory, 
government-wide small business ``goaling'' requirements that 23 percent 
of all Federal procurement dollars must be allocated to small 
contracting firms. This legislation would help the Federal Government 
to meet--and even exceed--its 23 percent goal, because it would require 
investing time and training in contracting officials who make the 
ultimate determination on contract awards be trained in small business 
procurement issues.
  Contracting officials have a great deal of responsibility. They 
provide the Federal government with expertise when buying goods and 
services to enable agencies to achieve their mission by fairly and 
reasonably obligating taxpayer dollars while simultaneously addressing 
our Nation's socio-economic needs. I have heard from constituents and 
others in the contracting community that contracting officials do not 
understand their duty to provide opportunities to small businesses to 
the maximum extent practicable. So, it is imperative that we provide 
contracting officials the tools they need to bolster small business 
participation in Federal contracting--to include training on small 
business government contracting set-aside programs, understanding size 
standards and the North American Industry Classification System codes 
and how they apply to the contract award process, conducting market 
research, as well as all of the Small Business Administration's 
resources and programs available to them.
  Small businesses are the engine of our economy and in this time of 
economic hardship, the Federal Government must provide our Nation's 
entrepreneurs with every opportunity to succeed. Federal contracting 
can be an instrumental part of a larger strategy for broadening small 
businesses' customer base and creating jobs. In my leadership capacity 
on the Senate Small Business Committee, I have long been a champion of 
removing barriers to small businesses seeking entry into the Federal 
marketplace. Through the years, I have introduced numerous bills that 
combat contract bundling, mandate recurrent small business size 
standard adjustments, ensure equal opportunity to compete for Federal 
contracts among the various socio-economic small businesses groups, and 
reduce fraud and abuse in SBA's small business contracting programs.
  The Federal Government's inability to consistently meet all of its 
small business contracting goals is unjustifiable. Only one category of 
small business contracting goals--small disadvantaged businesses--has 
been met, while the goals for the three other programs--historically 
underutilized business zones, HUBZone, small businesses, women-owned 
small businesses, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses--
has never been achieved. It is inconceivable as to why this remains a 
problem year after year, especially since contracts awarded using 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars have demonstrated that 
attainment of these goals is possible.
  In conclusion, I believe that requiring certification training for 
Federal contracting officers will help the Government meet the 
statutory small business contracting goals and will increase small 
business access to Federal contracts.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 3444

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Training in 
     Federal Contracting Certification Act of 2010''.

     SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS TRAINING.

       Section 37(f)(3) of the Office of Federal Procurement 
     Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 433(f)) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``For each career path,'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(A) In general.--For each career path,''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(B) Certification program.--
       ``(i) In general.--The Administrator shall establish a 
     certification program for acquisition personnel. The 
     certification program shall be carried out through the 
     Federal Acquisition Institute.
       ``(ii) Small business training.--The certification program 
     under this subparagraph shall include training regarding--

[[Page S4545]]

       ``(I) small business government contracting set-aside 
     programs, including--

       ``(aa) programs for HUBZone small business concerns, small 
     business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled 
     veterans, and small business concerns owned and controlled by 
     women (as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632));
       ``(bb) programs for socially and economically disadvantaged 
     small business concerns (as defined in section 8(a) of the 
     Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a))); and
       ``(cc) contracting under the Small Business Innovation 
     Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer 
     Program (as those terms are defined in section 9(e) of the 
     Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638(e)));

       ``(II) determining small business size standards and using 
     North American Industry Classification System codes in 
     relation to contracting set-aside programs and subcontracting 
     goals; and
       ``(III) any other issue relating to contracting with small 
     business concerns (as defined under section 3 of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)) determined appropriate by the 
     Administrator.''.

                                 ______