Department of Homeland Security Mentor-Protégé Program Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 579 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 4727 [Report No. 116–287] IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 10, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs NOVEMBER 9, 2020 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] AN ACT To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a mentor-prote´ge´ program, 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 ‘‘Department of Home- 4 land Security Mentor-Prote´ge´ Program Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4727 RS SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY MENTOR- 1 PROTE´ GE´ PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 3 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 4 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 890B. MENTOR-PROTE´ GE´ PROGRAM. 6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 7 Department a mentor-prote´ge´ program (in this section re- 8 ferred to as the ‘Program’) under which a mentor firm 9 enters into an agreement with a prote´ge´ firm for the pur- 10 pose of assisting the prote´ge´ firm to compete for prime 11 contracts and subcontracts of the Department. 12 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary shall establish cri- 13 teria for mentor firms and prote´ge´ firms to be eligible to 14 participate in the Program, including a requirement that 15 a firm is not included on any list maintained by the Fed- 16 eral Government of contractors that have been suspended 17 or debarred. 18 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM APPLICATION AND APPROVAL.— 19 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—The Secretary, acting 20 through the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 21 Business Utilization of the Department, shall estab- 22 lish a process for submission of an application joint- 23 ly by a mentor firm and the prote´ge´ firm selected by 24 the mentor firm. The application shall include each 25 of the following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4727 RS ‘‘(A) A description of the assistance to be 1 provided by the mentor firm, including, to the 2 extent available, the number and a brief de- 3 scription of each anticipated subcontract to be 4 awarded to the prote´ge´ firm. 5 ‘‘(B) A schedule with milestones for 6 achieving the assistance to be provided over the 7 period of participation in the Program. 8 ‘‘(C) An estimate of the costs to be in- 9 curred by the mentor firm for providing assist- 10 ance under the Program. 11 ‘‘(D) Attestation Attestations that Program 12 participants will submit to the Secretary reports 13 at times specified by the Secretary to assist the 14 Secretary in evaluating the prote´ge´ firm’s devel- 15 opmental progress. 16 ‘‘(E) Attestations that Program partici- 17 pants will inform the Secretary in the event of 18 a change in eligibility or voluntary withdrawal 19 from the Program. 20 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—Not later than 60 days after 21 receipt of an application pursuant to paragraph (1), 22 the head of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 23 Business Utilization shall notify applicants of ap- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4727 RS proval or, in the case of disapproval, the process for 1 resubmitting an application for reconsideration. 2 ‘‘(3) RESCISSION.—The head of the Office of 3 Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization may 4 rescind the approval of an application under this 5 subsection if it determines that such action is in the 6 best interest of the Department. 7 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM DURATION.—A mentor firm and 8 prote´ge´ firm approved under subsection (c) shall enter into 9 an agreement to participate in the Program for a period 10 of not less than 36 months. 11 ‘‘(e) PROGRAM BENEFITS.—A mentor firm and 12 prote´ge´ firm that enter into an agreement under sub- 13 section (d) may receive the following Program benefits: 14 ‘‘(1) With respect to an award of a contract 15 that requires a subcontracting plan, a mentor firm 16 may receive evaluation credit for participating in the 17 Program. 18 ‘‘(2) With respect to an award of a contract 19 that requires a subcontracting plan, a mentor firm 20 may receive credit for a prote´ge´ firm performing as 21 a first tier subcontractor or a subcontractor at any 22 tier in an amount equal to the total dollar value of 23 any subcontracts awarded to such prote´ge´ firm. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4727 RS ‘‘(3) A prote´ge´ firm may receive technical, man- 1 agerial, financial, or any other mutually agreed upon 2 benefit from a mentor firm, including a subcontract 3 award. 4 ‘‘(4) Any other benefits identified by the Sec- 5 retary. 6 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 7 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 8 the head of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Busi- 9 ness Utilization shall submit to the Committee on Home- 10 land Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 11 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 12 the Committees on Homeland Security and Small Busi- 13 ness of the House of Representatives a report that— 14 ‘‘(1) identifies each agreement between a men- 15 tor firm and a prote´ge´ firm entered into under this 16 section, including the number of prote´ge´ firm partici- 17 pants that are— 18 ‘‘(A) small business concerns; 19 ‘‘(B) small business concerns owned and 20 controlled by veterans; 21 ‘‘(C) small business concerns owned and 22 controlled by service-disabled veterans; 23 ‘‘(D) qualified HUBZone small business 24 concerns; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4727 RS ‘‘(E) small business concerns owned and 1 controlled by socially and economically dis- 2 advantaged individuals; 3 ‘‘(F) women-owned small business con- 4 cerns; 5 ‘‘(G) historically Black colleges and univer- 6 sities; and 7 ‘‘(H) minority institutions of higher edu- 8 cation; 9 ‘‘(2) describes the type of assistance provided 10 by mentor firms to prote´ge´ firms; 11 ‘‘(3) identifies contracts within the Department 12 in which a mentor firm serving as the prime con- 13 tractor provided subcontracts to a prote´ge´ firm 14 under the Program; and 15 ‘‘(4) assesses the degree to which there has 16 been— 17 ‘‘(A) an increase in the technical capabili- 18 ties of prote´ge´ firms; and 19 ‘‘(B) an increase in the quantity and esti- 20 mated value of prime contract and subcontract 21 awards to prote´ge´ firms for the period covered 22 by the report. 23 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4727 RS ‘‘(g) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 1 tion shall be construed to limit, diminish, impair, or other- 2 wise affect the authority of the Department to participate 3 in any program carried out by or requiring approval of 4 the Small Business Administration or adopt or follow any 5 regulation or policy that the Administrator of the Small 6 Business Administration may promulgate, except that, to 7 the extent that any provision of this section (including sub- 8 section (h)) conflicts with any other provision of law, regu- 9 lation, or policy, this section shall control. 10 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.— In this section: 11 ‘‘(1) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 12 VERSITY.—The term ‘historically Black college or 13 university’ means any of the historically Black col- 14 leges and universities referred to in section 2323 of 15 title 10, United States Code, as in effect on March 16 1, 2018. 17 ‘‘(2) MENTOR FIRM.—The term ‘mentor firm’ 18 means a for-profit business concern that is not a 19 small business concern that— 20 ‘‘(A) has the ability to assist and commits 21 to assisting a prote´ge´ to compete for Federal 22 prime contracts and subcontracts; and 23 ‘‘(B) satisfies any other requirements im- 24 posed by the Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4727 RS ‘‘(3) MINORITY INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU- 1 CATION.—The term ‘minority institution of higher 2 education’ means an institution of higher education 3 with a student body that reflects the composition 4 specified in section 312(b) of the Higher Education 5 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(b)). 6 ‘‘(4) PROTE´GE´ FIRM.—The term ‘prote´ge´ firm’ 7 means a small business concern, a historically Black 8 college or university, or a minority institution of 9 higher education that— 10 ‘‘(A) is eligible to enter into a prime con- 11 tract or subcontract with the Department; and 12 ‘‘(B) satisfies any other requirements im- 13 posed by the Secretary. 14 ‘‘(5) SMALL BUSINESS ACT DEFINITIONS.—The 15 terms ‘small business concern’, ‘small business con- 16 cern owned and controlled by veterans’, ‘small busi- 17 ness concern owned and controlled by service-dis- 18 abled veterans’, ‘qualified HUBZone small business 19 concern’, and ‘small business concern owned and 20 controlled by women’ have the meaning meanings 21 given such terms, respectively, under section 3 of the 22 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). The term 23 ‘small business concern owned and controlled by so- 24 cially and economically disadvantaged individuals’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4727 RS has the meaning given such term in section 1 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 2 637(d)(3)(C)).’’. 3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 4 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 5 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 6 890A the following new item: 7 ‘‘Sec. 890B. Mentor-prote´ge´ program.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 579 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 4727 [Report No. 116–287] AN ACT To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish a mentor-prote´ge´ program, and for other purposes. NOVEMBER 9, 2020 Reported with amendments VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS