[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H727-H728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE WOSB INTEGRITY ACT OF 2024

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 7128) to establish requirements relating to size 
standard compliance of small business concerns owned and controlled by 
women for certain purposes, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7128

       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 ``The WOSB Integrity Act of 
     2024''.

     SEC. 2. WOMEN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SIZE STANDARD COMPLIANCE 
                   FOR RESTRICTED COMPETITION.

       (a) In General.--Section 8(m)(2)(E) of the Small Business 
     Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)(E)) is amended by inserting ``, 
     including that each such concern does not exceed the 
     applicable size standard established under section 3(a)'' 
     after ``by women''.
       (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall not be construed as disqualifying any small business 
     concern owned and controlled by women that, as of the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, is certified by a Federal agency, 
     the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, or a 
     national certifying entity approved by the Administrator as a 
     small business concern owned and controlled by women from 
     competing for contracts restricted under section 8(m)(2) of 
     the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)) before the 
     earlier of--
       (1) the date on which the small business concern owned and 
     controlled by women submits a notice that such concern is no 
     longer a small business concern owned and controlled by 
     women; or
       (2) the date on which the Administrator, Federal agency, or 
     entity that provided such certification determines that the 
     concern exceeds the applicable size standard established 
     under section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     632(a)).
       (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act or the 
     amendments made by this Act shall be construed to require the 
     Administrator to perform a formal size determination on a 
     small business concern when considering an application from 
     such concern for certification as a small business concern 
     owned and controlled by women.
       (d) Definitions.--In this Act:
       (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
     Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
       (2) Small business concern.--The term ``small business 
     concern'' has the meaning given under section 3 of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
       (3) Small business concern owned and controlled by women.--
     The term ``small business concern'' and ``small business 
     concern owned and controlled by women'' has the meaning given 
     in section 8(m)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     637(m)(1)).
       (e) Technical Amendment.--Section 8(m)(2)(C) of the Small 
     Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)(C)) is amended by striking 
     ``paragraph (3)'' and inserting ``paragraph (4)''.
       (f) Compliance With CUTGO.--No additional amounts are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act or the 
     amendments made by this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Williams) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.

                              {time}  1745


                             General Leave

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.

[[Page H728]]

  

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7128, The WOSB Integrity 
Act of 2024, sponsored by Representative Maloy from the great State of 
Utah.
  The WOSB Integrity Act removes self-certification of size from this 
contracting program that is reserved for women-owned small businesses.
  It is vital that there are programs to help small business owners 
access Federal contracting opportunities. That is where the Small 
Business Administration's women-owned small business program, also 
known as WOSB, comes in. This program allows women entrepreneurs to 
compete for unique contracting opportunities.
  Unfortunately, the Federal Government currently does not 
independently verify that these businesses are truly small businesses. 
Firms can simply self-certify themselves as small businesses, 
potentially leading to misrepresentation and fraud to obtain 
contracting opportunities.
  It is vital that women-owned entrepreneurs who participate in the 
WOSB do not have to worry that their competitors misrepresent 
themselves as a small business.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 7128, The 
WOSB Integrity Act of 2024, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Representatives Maloy and 
Scholten, for their work on this bill.
  Since its inception, the WOSB program and the administration of the 
program have been a challenge for SBA. Similarly, Federal agencies have 
faced challenges using the authorities that Congress has put in place 
to streamline contracting with women-owned small businesses.
  While working to boost participation of WOSBs and enhance the use of 
these authorities, Congress must also advance initiatives that are 
designed to protect the integrity of the program.
  One issue we are addressing today is the inspector general's report 
that states there is a discrepancy in SBA's implementation of the 
program. The purpose of this bill is to align SBA processes with the 
IG's report and to clarify that we expect SBA to have a process similar 
to the other socioeconomic contracting programs for WOSB 
certifications.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate my colleagues for their work on this 
bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from Utah (Ms. Maloy).
  Ms. MALOY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Williams for yielding me 
time. I also thank Ranking Member Velazquez for her support on this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, The WOSB Integrity 
Act of 2024.
  The purpose of this bill is to make sure that the businesses that are 
taking advantage of the WOSB program are, in fact, small businesses. 
They are certifying that they are women-owned, but they are self-
certifying that they are small.
  The SBA inspector general found that there is room for fraud in this 
program, so this is simply a commonsense solution to close a loophole 
to make sure this program is serving the purpose it was intended to 
serve, which is giving women-owned small businesses the opportunity to 
compete in Federal contracting. It encourages fair competition, levels 
the playing field in government contracting, and ensures the 
opportunities are awarded justly and contribute to a competitive small 
business sector.
  We have a goal of awarding 5 percent of government contracts to 
women-owned small businesses. We have no way of knowing how well we are 
doing in meeting that goal if we don't have any way of certifying that 
these WOSBs are, in fact, small businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation, and I 
thank Ms. Maloy and Ms. Scholten for this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support 
this commonsense legislation from Congresswoman Maloy and Scholten, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 7128.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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