[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H3693-H3695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRANSPARENCY AND PREDICTABILITY IN SMALL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ACT

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 8014) to require the Administrator of the Small 
Business Administration to issue rules for cancelled covered 
solicitations, to amend the Small Business Act to provide assistance to 
small business concerns relating to certain cancelled solicitations, 
and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 8014

       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 ``Transparency and 
     Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act''.

     SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION RULES FOR CANCELLED 
                   COVERED SOLICITATIONS.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small 
     Business Administration shall issue rules to carry out the 
     following actions:
       (1) Disclose information about a covered solicitation that 
     was issued and cancelled that includes the following:
       (A) A justification for the cancellation of such covered 
     solicitation.
       (B) Available information about any plans to reissue such 
     covered solicitation and any associated timeframes for such 
     reissuance.
       (C) Available information about any plans to include the 
     requirements such covered solicitation in another contract or 
     task order of the Federal agency.
       (2) With respect to a cancelled covered solicitation which 
     the Federal agency does not intend to reissue, procedures for 
     the referral of a small business concern that prepared a bid 
     for such covered solicitation to the Director of Small and 
     Disadvantaged Business Utilization (as defined in section 
     15(k) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(k))) of the 
     Federal agency for assistance in identifying similar 
     contracting opportunities.
       (b) Publication.--The information required under subsection 
     (a) shall be made publicly accessible on the single 
     governmentwide point of entry described under section 1708 of 
     title 41, United States Code.
       (c) Covered Solicitation Defined.--The term ``covered 
     solicitation'' means a solicitation of a Federal agency for a 
     procurement for which two or more small business concerns 
     were eligible to submit a bid.

     SEC. 3. DUTIES FOR DIRECTORS OF OFFICES OF SMALL AND 
                   DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS UTILIZATION RELATING TO 
                   CERTAIN CANCELLED SOLICITATIONS.

       Section 15(k) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(k)) 
     is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (21), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(22) shall, when notified by a small business concern 
     that a Federal agency cancelled a solicitation for which such 
     concern prepared a bid and such Federal agency does not 
     intend to reissue, assist such concern with identifying 
     similar contracting opportunities.''.

     SEC. 4. 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. 8014, the Transparency 
and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act sponsored by 
Representatives Mfume and Alford.
  H.R. 8014 seeks to bring clarity to small business owners when an 
agency cancels a contract solicitation. Small businesses spend an 
incredible amount of time and resources preparing to bid on government 
contracts. When an agency cancels a contract solicitation, the small 
businesses that started preparing are left with nothing to show for 
their work. Furthermore, there is little clarity about what the agency 
will do with the products and services it originally intended to 
purchase.
  H.R. 8014 will require agencies to share with the SBA its future 
plans with the canceled solicitation and a

[[Page H3694]]

justification as to why it was canceled all while providing assistance 
to small businesses who were impacted by the cancellation by helping 
them identify similar contracting opportunities.
  Small businesses deserve to have a full understanding of what 
opportunities are available to them and deserve to know how agencies 
will fulfill their buying needs.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 8014, and 
I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 8014, the Transparency 
and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act introduced by 
Mr. Mfume and Mr. Alford.
  This legislation requires the government to provide information to 
small business contractors when they cancel solicitations.
  The government has flexibility to change requirements and 
solicitations as needed when their circumstances change. While this 
flexibility is necessary, the small businesses take on the risk and can 
incur losses when it happens.
  Requiring an agency to disclose the reasons behind a cancellation and 
any plans for the work will provide small contractors with a little 
more information to adjust their business plans and operations 
accordingly.
  This is a commonsense strategy to provide some relief to small 
contractors, and that is why I support this bill.
  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 Missouri (Mr. Alford).
  Mr. ALFORD. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to thank Chairman Williams 
and Majority Leader Scalise for helping get H.R. 8014, the Transparency 
and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act, to this very 
House floor.
  I am honored to serve on the Small Business Committee, especially 
having been a small business owner myself. The committee exists in 
Congress to champion Main Street and to make sure that the small 
businesses that employ about half of all Americans can continue to 
thrive.
  Madam Speaker, our role is to help lower the barriers to creating 
small businesses and to support small businesses that already exist. It 
is quite simple, and I think this bill helps with that.
  Major tools to help existing small businesses are government 
contracts specifically set aside for small businesses.
  However, Federal agencies cancel contract solicitations often with no 
warning and no reason, leaving the small businesses that spent 
thousands or tens of thousands of dollars and a lot of time preparing 
these bids out in the cold. They have no idea why their deal did not go 
through.
  This bill, the Transparency and Predictability in Small Business 
Opportunities Act, will help address the problem.
  This legislation would require agencies to provide to the SBA a 
justification for canceled contract solicitations. Additionally, this 
would require the agency canceling the contract solicitation to 
disclose available information about plans to reissue similar 
solicitations.
  Finally, Madam Speaker, if the agency does not plan on reissuing 
solicitations, the agency's director of Small and Disadvantaged 
Business Utilization must assist the small business in identifying 
similar contracting opportunities.
  I am proud to co-lead this legislation, along with Mr. Mfume of 
Maryland, and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill and 
supporting Main Street America.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Mfume), the ranking member of the 
Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations Subcommittee.
  Mr. MFUME. Madam Speaker, I thank Chair Roger Williams and Ranking 
Member Nydia Velazquez for their cooperation in getting this piece of 
legislation to the floor.
  This amendment represents, in many respects, the sort of amendments 
that are bipartisan that have come about under their leadership, first 
in this Congress and then in the previous Congress when their roles had 
been reversed. It is a good process to have, and I honestly hope that 
other committees can follow the example here.
  The U.S. Federal Government, in case people don't know, is the 
largest customer in the entire world. The government spends more than 
$690 billion every year on products and on services and is required by 
law to have those services meet the application, meet the solicitation, 
and then be considered properly. The government requires also by law 
that it gives equal consideration to businesses where applicable.
  Once an agency has evaluated and assessed their needs, acquisition 
personnel will post a solicitation on the Federal Government's System 
for Award Management. It is also commonly known as SAM.gov.
  That posting then is used to document and to track the eligibility of 
an individual or an entity to be able to receive Federal funds.
  Now, winning a contract can secure for a small business tens of 
thousands of dollars for their products or their services where 
applicable, which also results, obviously, in huge financial gains, but 
the problem here is that this is not a simple feat.
  Successfully securing a government contract requires fortitude and 
tenacity over and over again, day in and day out, as small businesses 
will need to do in order to be able to take advantage of that 
solicitation.
  Now, not only can it take a long time for a small business to win 
their first government contract, but it also requires a significant 
amount of financial resources. They have to be invested in the process.
  Some businesses in this country spend on average $80,000 to $130,000 
just to be able to earn their first contract. They have to get the 
right consultants. They have to put together the right teams. They need 
the right expertise that goes above and beyond what their capabilities 
are, and it is work, work, work.
  Additionally, it can take small business owners up to 2 years to 
start making a return on that same investment, making the need for an 
adequate cash flow absolutely essential. You have to be able to ride 
that tide, as many small businesses will tell you, and cash flow is a 
huge part of that.
  Now, despite the prospective awardees' heavy lift, and it is a heavy 
lift, agencies on their own, unilaterally, without reason, can cancel 
the solicitation without ever disclosing why, leaving the small 
businessperson or the small minority business left on their own to 
recoup the money that they have put in and also being unable to bid 
right away on something else.
  It leaves entrepreneurs in the dark. It causes them to be depleted of 
their resources and absent of any guidance on a path moving forward. 
The government doesn't say we have taken your solicitation, here is 
what you have to do. They just say we have canceled the solicitation, 
and then the small business entity has to figure out what they do next 
after that large investment.
  Small business owners, in my opinion, deserve better allies in the 
Federal Government. That is why the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Alford) and I have put together in a bipartisan way the Transparency 
and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act. We think it is 
a remedy for a very serious problem.
  The act requires the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration to issue regulations that would provide for the 
disclosure of additional information when a small business solicitation 
is canceled.
  In other words, if you are going to make a unilateral decision, you 
have to at least tell the small businesses who have invested money in 
trying to provide for that why you did it. We have a good SBA 
Administrator. I think that she just needs the right kind of language 
in a bill and the authority to be able to do just that.
  The bill would also require the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 
Business Utilization to help small businesses seek additional 
opportunities if a solicitation that they bid on is arbitrarily and 
unilaterally canceled.
  It is my hope and the hope of the gentleman from Missouri as well 
that we are able to provide them with the

[[Page H3695]]

opportunities they need to be able to continue to grow and develop 
their businesses and the opportunity to be successful rather than to be 
in a punitive situation where we offer bait and then snatch it back 
after businesses are, in fact, vested on a course of winning a 
contract.
  Small businesses, needless to say, really have been the driving force 
in our economy, and I know that Mr. Williams and Ms. Velazquez will 
agree. After all the hard work these small businesses do, they deserve 
the courtesy of disclosure from the Federal Government and its 
contracting agencies.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all Members on both sides of the aisle to vote 
in favor of this.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I am in support of this bill, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Madam Speaker, this bill will prevent small 
businesses from being left with nothing to show for contracting 
opportunities that never materialize for one reason or another. It is 
my hope that this will increase the number of small businesses willing 
to take the leap of faith to compete for government contracts.
  Before I yield back, I thank Representative Mfume for this bill and 
all the work he has done for small businesses throughout the years. I 
appreciate it very much.
  While he may no longer be serving on our committee for the remainder 
of the 118th Congress, I appreciate his contributions that he has made 
throughout the years to America's entrepreneurs, and he is my friend.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this 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. 8014.
  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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