[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H3689-H3690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SMALL BUSINESS PROCUREMENT AND UTILIZATION REFORM ACT OF 2024
Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 7988) to amend the Small Business Act to include
requirements relating to new small business entrants in the scorecard
program, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 7988
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 Procurement
and Utilization Reform Act of 2024'' or the ``SPUR Act''.
SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO SCORECARD REQUIREMENTS.
Section 15(y) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(y))
is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as subparagraph (F);
and
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following new
subparagraph:
``(E) The number of new small business entrants, including
new small business entrants that are 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, and small business concerns owned
and controlled by women awarded prime contracts in each North
American Industry Classification System code during the
fiscal year, and a comparison to the number awarded prime
contracts during the prior fiscal year, if available.'';
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking ``subparagraphs (B)
through (E) of paragraph (2)'' and inserting ``subparagraphs
(B) through (F) of paragraph (2)''; and
(3) by amending paragraph (6) to read as follows:
``(6) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) New small business entrant.--The term `new small
business entrant' means a small business concern that--
``(i) has been awarded a prime contract; and
``(ii) has not previously been awarded a prime contract by
the Federal Government.
``(B) Scorecard.--The term `scorecard' means any summary
using a rating system to evaluate the efforts of a Federal
agency to meet goals established under subsection (g)(1)(B)
that--
``(i) includes the measures described in paragraph (2); and
``(ii) assigns a score to each Federal agency evaluated.''.
SEC. 3. 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.
General Leave
Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may 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.
Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7988, the Small
Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act of 2024, also known as
the SPUR Act, sponsored by Representatives Stauber and Perez.
Small businesses are vital to the health and resiliency of America's
industrial base. Broad and robust small business participation ensures
that America can continue to lead the world in innovation and defend us
against foreign adversaries. However, small businesses are getting
squeezed out of the industrial base at a staggering rate, a direct
threat to America's dominance.
There are just half as many small businesses participating in the
industrial base as there were just a decade ago. This downward trend is
a culmination of years of bad government policy and is being made worse
by the Biden administration's regulatory onslaught, dissuading small
businesses from even considering participating in the Federal
marketplace.
The SPUR Act is a critical step into looking under the hood of the
government and bringing accountability to agencies. By grading agencies
on how many contracts have been awarded to small businesses for the
very first time, we will bring together a great focus on reversing the
declining participation of small businesses in the industrial base.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 7988, and
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Today, we are considering H.R. 7988, which requires SBA to consider
new small business government contractors when grading a Federal
agency's performance toward meeting its small business goals.
The government has roughly 40 percent fewer small businesses in the
ecosystem than it did just a decade ago. This has been an ongoing
challenge the committee has identified and sought solutions to reverse
because the industrial base decline has produced negative consequences
for both the government and small firms alike.
Small firms lose out on the stability government contracting can
provide, and the government loses out on the innovation and competition
that a larger base of small businesses provides. Yet, despite this
decline, Federal agencies award a record amount of contracting dollars
to small businesses each year. This means fewer small businesses are
getting larger contracts, and since contracts are getting larger, fewer
smalls are willing and able to compete for them.
This legislation is a productive step that will help break that
cycle. I commend Mr. Stauber and Ms. Perez for their work to craft a
solution to this challenge.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber).
Mr. STAUBER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of my
bill, the Small Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act of
2024, also known as the SPUR Act.
[[Page H3690]]
Madam Speaker, I also thank my friend and colleague from Washington
(Ms. Perez) for her support on this important legislation.
Small businesses across the United States have a problem. Despite
government agencies setting aside contract opportunities for small
businesses, participation in Federal contracting has plummeted by 50
percent over just the past decade.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are the
innovators, the job creators, and the driving force behind economic
growth.
In Minnesota, small businesses account for over 99 percent of all
businesses and employ over half of the workforce. It is no exaggeration
to say that the success of our economy is tied to the success of our
small businesses.
The Federal Government is the largest purchaser of goods and services
in the world, and there is no better way for the government to support
small businesses than to ensure they have every opportunity to contract
with it.
The scorecard system, which is used to determine if the government is
doing a good job contracting with small businesses, needs improvement.
Agencies are graded on the total number and value of small business
contracts, yet they do not factor in small businesses who won a Federal
contract for the first time.
Without incorporating this into the agency scorecard grade, we have
no ability to tell whether the pool of small businesses are first-time
contractors or multiyear contractors. If the government continuously
rewards the same firms time and time again, a new small business that
has a more efficient, less expensive way of doing things may be
discouraged from entering the marketplace altogether.
My bill, the SPUR Act, addresses this concern. It will require the
SBA to account for the number of new entrants into the Federal
procurement space when it grades agencies for use in its scorecard. Too
many Federal agencies fall short of their goals for awarding contracts
to small businesses, leaving billions of dollars in contracts out of
reach of American small businesses and increasing the cost for
taxpayers.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the SPUR Act.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Perez), the cosponsor of the
legislation.
Ms. PEREZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the SPUR Act. I
thank my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber) for introducing this
bill.
The SBA is ensuring that small businesses are given a fair shot at
competing for Federal contracting dollars. SBA publishes an annual
small business procurement scorecard that grades each Federal agency on
their spending toward the goal and gives agencies a score for their
performance. We all know that these Federal contracts can be an
incredible financial opportunity for our Nation's entrepreneurs, but
even though the amount of dollars awarded to small businesses has
reached record highs, the number of small businesses in the industrial
base has declined dramatically.
Put simply, the Federal Government is not retaining current small
business government contractors, and new small businesses are not
choosing to enter the Federal market. This is a serious problem.
For our local economies to thrive, it is important that we level the
playing field and ensure that more southwest Washington small
businesses can benefit from these opportunities. This bill would
require the SBA to include the number of new entrants into the Federal
market in the methodology for scoring each Federal agency's small
business performance.
By way of example, after the 2020 pandemic hit, my husband and I
spent basically the better part of a year on upgrades to our auto shop,
including investments in infrastructure, like ventilation systems to
keep our employees and our customers safe.
Our friends, who own another auto repair shop, instead spent the
entire year learning how to navigate the contract system with the city.
This is a perfect example of how it is a real loss to our communities
and our local economies when small business owners have to spend a year
navigating a bureaucracy and figuring out how to do business with the
government.
Our bill will help shed light on how successful Federal agencies are
at making sure that new businesses see the value in contracting with
the Federal Government and have the capacity to overcome the regulatory
burdens to tap into these resources.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to co-lead this bill with Representative
Stauber, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time
for closing.
Madam Speaker, at the Department of Defense, GAO found that, over a
10-year period, the number of small businesses participating in the
defense industrial base declined by over 40 percent. The civilian
agencies are seeing a similar decline.
As a result, questions have been raised about how to accurately
measure the health of the industrial base and the scorecard's
effectiveness for tracking small business contracting. The scorecard's
current criteria include a year-over-year prime contract comparison
goal, but it fails to count the award of a contract for the first time.
This bill is intended to measure and include in the SBA's methodology
for calculating an agency's score for small business goals the number
of small businesses who are becoming Federal Government contractors for
the first time.
By requiring a year-over-year comparison of new entrants rather than
a single target, Federal agencies will be compelled to continuously
focus on bringing in new companies and addressing the barriers, like
contract size, that prevent greater small business participation.
I again applaud the work put into this legislation. It is a
thoughtful product of bipartisan work.
Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Stauber and Ms. Perez, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of
my time.
Madam Speaker, we must ensure that a greater number of small
businesses are entering the government contracting space. By forcing
agencies to recognize the shortcomings in awarding contracts to first-
time suppliers of the Federal Government, I am hopeful that these
numbers will begin to move back in the right direction.
Madam Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this commonsense
legislation, 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. 7988.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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