Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 673 To amend the Small Business Act to eliminate the inclusion of option years in the award price for sole source contracts, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 6, 2019 Ms. ERNST (for herself and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and En- trepreneurship A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to eliminate the inclusion of option years in the award price for sole source con- tracts, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding Contracting 4 Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 673 IS (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 2 and the Administrator thereof; 3 (2) the term ‘‘small business concern owned 4 and controlled by service-disabled veterans’’ has the 5 meaning given the term in section 3(q) of the Small 6 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)); and 7 (3) the term ‘‘small business concern owned 8 and controlled by women’’ has the meaning given the 9 term in section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 10 U.S.C. 637(m)). 11 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CONTRACTING AUTHORITY FOR 12 CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. 13 (a) QUALIFIED HUBZONE SMALL BUSINESS CON- 14 CERNS.—Section 31(b)(2)(A) of the Small Business Act 15 (15 U.S.C. 657a(b)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘(A) SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.—A con- 17 tracting officer may award sole source contracts 18 under this section to any qualified HUBZone 19 small business concern, if— 20 ‘‘(i) the qualified HUBZone small 21 business concern is determined to be a re- 22 sponsible contractor with respect to per- 23 formance of the contract opportunity; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 673 IS ‘‘(ii) the contracting officer does not 1 have a reasonable expectation that 2 or 2 more qualified HUBZone small business 3 concerns will submit offers for the contract 4 opportunity; 5 ‘‘(iii) the anticipated award price of 6 the contract will not exceed— 7 ‘‘(I) $7,000,000, in the case of a 8 contract opportunity assigned a stand- 9 ard industrial classification code for 10 manufacturing; or 11 ‘‘(II) $4,000,000, in the case of 12 all other contract opportunities; 13 ‘‘(iv) in the estimation of the con- 14 tracting officer, the contract award can be 15 made at a fair and reasonable price; and 16 ‘‘(v) the base and each of the option 17 years of the award, if any, are of similar 18 value.’’. 19 (b) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED AND CON- 20 TROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.—Section 21 36(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657f(a)) is 22 amended to read as follows: 23 ‘‘(a) SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.—In accordance with 24 this section, a contracting officer may award a sole source 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 673 IS contract to any small business concern owned and con- 1 trolled by service-disabled veterans if— 2 ‘‘(1) the concern is determined to be a respon- 3 sible contractor with respect to performance of the 4 contract opportunity; 5 ‘‘(2) the contracting officer does not have a rea- 6 sonable expectation that 2 or more small business 7 concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled 8 veterans will submit offers for the contract oppor- 9 tunity; 10 ‘‘(3) the anticipated award price of the contract 11 will not exceed— 12 ‘‘(A) $7,000,000, in the case of a contract 13 opportunity assigned a standard industrial clas- 14 sification code for manufacturing; or 15 ‘‘(B) $4,000,000, in the case of any other 16 contract opportunity; 17 ‘‘(4) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 18 the contract award can be made at a fair and rea- 19 sonable price; 20 ‘‘(5) the contracting officer has notified the Ad- 21 ministration of the intent to make the award and re- 22 quested that the Administration determine the eligi- 23 bility of the concern for the award; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 673 IS ‘‘(6) the base and each of the option years of 1 the award, if any, are of similar value; and 2 ‘‘(7) the Administration has determined that 3 the concern is eligible for the award.’’. 4 (c) CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED 5 AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN.—Section 8(m) of the 6 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) is amended— 7 (1) by amending paragraph (7) to read as fol- 8 lows: 9 ‘‘(7) AUTHORITY FOR SOLE SOURCE CON- 10 TRACTS FOR ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED 11 SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CON- 12 TROLLED BY WOMEN.—A contracting officer may 13 award a sole source contract under this subsection 14 to any small business concern owned and controlled 15 by women described in paragraph (2)(A) and cer- 16 tified under paragraph (2)(E) if— 17 ‘‘(A) the concern is determined to be a re- 18 sponsible contractor with respect to perform- 19 ance of the contract opportunity; 20 ‘‘(B) the contracting officer does not have 21 a reasonable expectation that 2 or more small 22 business concerns owned and controlled by 23 women described in paragraph (2)(A) will sub- 24 mit offers for the contract opportunity; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 673 IS ‘‘(C) the anticipated award price of the 1 contract will not exceed— 2 ‘‘(i) $7,000,000, in the case of a con- 3 tract opportunity assigned a standard in- 4 dustrial classification code for manufac- 5 turing; or 6 ‘‘(ii) $4,000,000, in the case of any 7 other contract opportunity; 8 ‘‘(D) in the estimation of the contracting 9 officer, the contract award can be made at a 10 fair and reasonable price; 11 ‘‘(E) the contracting officer has notified 12 the Administration of the intent to make the 13 award and requested that the Administration 14 determine the eligibility of the concern for the 15 award; 16 ‘‘(F) the base and each of the option years 17 of the award, if any, are of similar value; and 18 ‘‘(G) the Administration has determined 19 that the concern is eligible for the award.’’; and 20 (2) by amending paragraph (8) to read as fol- 21 lows: 22 ‘‘(8) AUTHORITY FOR SOLE SOURCE CON- 23 TRACTS FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED 24 AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN IN SUBSTANTIALLY 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 673 IS UNDERREPRESENTED INDUSTRIES.—A contracting 1 officer may award a sole source contract under this 2 subsection to any small business concern owned and 3 controlled by women certified under paragraph 4 (2)(E) that is in an industry in which small business 5 concerns owned and controlled by women are sub- 6 stantially underrepresented (as determined by the 7 Administrator under paragraph (3)) if— 8 ‘‘(A) the concern is determined to be a re- 9 sponsible contractor with respect to perform- 10 ance of the contract opportunity; 11 ‘‘(B) the contracting officer does not have 12 a reasonable expectation that 2 or more busi- 13 nesses in an industry that has received a waiver 14 under paragraph (3) will submit offers for the 15 contract opportunity; 16 ‘‘(C) the anticipated award price of the 17 contract will not exceed— 18 ‘‘(i) $7,000,000, in the case of a con- 19 tract opportunity assigned a standard in- 20 dustrial classification code for manufac- 21 turing; or 22 ‘‘(ii) $4,000,000, in the case of any 23 other contract opportunity; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 673 IS ‘‘(D) in the estimation of the contracting 1 officer, the contract award can be made at a 2 fair and reasonable price; 3 ‘‘(E) the contracting officer has notified 4 the Administration of the intent to make the 5 award and requested that the Administration 6 determine the eligibility of the concern for the 7 award; 8 ‘‘(F) the base and each of the option years 9 of the award, if any, are of similar value; and 10 ‘‘(G) the Administration has determined 11 that the concern is eligible for the award.’’. 12 (d) SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED 13 SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—Section 8(a)(1)(D)(i) of 14 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(1)(D)(i)) is 15 amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘(D)(i) A contracting officer may award sole 17 source contracts under this subsection to any quali- 18 fied socially and economically disadvantaged small 19 business concern, as defined in paragraph (4)(A), 20 if— 21 ‘‘(I) the qualified socially and economically 22 disadvantaged small business concern is deter- 23 mined to be a responsible contractor with re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 673 IS spect to performance of the contract oppor- 1 tunity; 2 ‘‘(II) the contracting officer does not have 3 a reasonable expectation that 2 or more quali- 4 fied socially and economically disadvantaged 5 small business concerns will submit offers for 6 the contract opportunity; 7 ‘‘(III) the anticipated award price of the 8 contract will not exceed— 9 ‘‘(aa) $7,000,000, in the case of a 10 contract opportunity assigned a standard 11 industrial classification code for manufac- 12 turing; or 13 ‘‘(bb) $4,000,000, in the case of any 14 other contract opportunity; 15 ‘‘(IV) in the estimation of the contracting 16 officer, the contract award can be made at a 17 fair and reasonable price; and 18 ‘‘(V) the base and each of the option years 19 of the award, if any, are of similar value.’’. 20 SEC. 4. SBA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM NOTIFICATION. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall notify 22 the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 23 of the Senate and the Committee on Small Business of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 673 IS the House of Representatives when the Administrator has 1 implemented each of the following: 2 (1) A program to certify small business con- 3 cerns owned and controlled by women. 4 (2) A program to certify small business con- 5 cerns owned and controlled by service-disabled vet- 6 erans. 7 (b) ADDITIONAL NOTICE.—The Administrator shall 8 submit a copy of a notification required under subsection 9 (a) to the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Rep- 10 resentatives so that the Law Revision Counsel may execute 11 the amendments required under section 5. 12 SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION UPON 13 IMPLEMENTATION OF CERTIFICATION PRO- 14 GRAMS. 15 Effective upon the notification described in section 4, 16 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.), as amend- 17 ed by section 3 of this Act, is amended— 18 (1) in section 8(m) (15 U.S.C. 637(m))— 19 (A) in paragraph (7)— 20 (i) in subparagraph (D), by adding 21 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 22 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and 23 (G); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 673 IS (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 1 (F) as subparagraph (E); and 2 (iv) in subparagraph (E), as so redes- 3 ignated, by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting 4 a period; and 5 (B) in paragraph (8)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (D), by adding 7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 8 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and 9 (G); 10 (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 11 (F) as subparagraph (E); and 12 (iv) in subparagraph (E), as so redes- 13 ignated, by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting 14 a period; and 15 (2) in section 36(a) (15 U.S.C. 657f(a))— 16 (A) in paragraph (3), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 17 the end; 18 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the semi- 19 colon at the end and inserting a period; and 20 (C) by striking paragraphs (5), (6), and 21 (7). 22 SEC. 6. GAO REPORT. 23 (a) STUDY.—With respect to the procurement pro- 24 grams of the Administration for small business concerns 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 673 IS owned and controlled by women and for small business 1 concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled vet- 2 erans, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 3 conduct an evaluation of the policies and practices used 4 by the Administration and other Federal agencies to pro- 5 vide assurances that— 6 (1) contracting officers are properly classifying 7 sole source awards under those programs in the 8 Federal Procurement Data System; and 9 (2) sole source contracts awarded under those 10 programs are being awarded to eligible concerns. 11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 12 date on which the Administration implements the certifi- 13 cation programs described in section 4(a), the Comptroller 14 General of the United States shall submit to the Com- 15 mittee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 16 Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the 17 House of Representatives a report containing the findings 18 made in carrying out the study required under subsection 19 (a). 20 (c) SBA CONSIDERATION OF GAO REPORT.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall re- 22 view the report issued under subsection (b) and take 23 such actions as the Administrator may determine 24 appropriate to address any concerns raised in the re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S673.IS S673 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 673 IS port and any recommendations contained in the re- 1 port. 2 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—After the review 3 described under paragraph (1), the Administrator 4 shall submit to Congress a report— 5 (A) stating that no additional actions were 6 necessary to address any concerns or rec- 7 ommendations contained in the report; or 8 (B) describing the actions taken by the 9 Administrator to resolve those concerns or im- 10 plement those recommendations. 11 Æ [Text truncated for display. 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