Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5146 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 9, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship AN ACT To amend the Small Business Act to require contracting officers to take a small business concern’s past perform- ance as part of a joint venture into account when evalu- ating the small business concern, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jan 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5146.RFS H5146 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 5146 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unlocking Opportuni- 2 ties for Small Businesses Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT VEN- 4 TURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. 5 Section 15(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 6 644(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(5) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT 8 VENTURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—With 9 respect to evaluating an offer for a prime contract 10 made by a small business concern that previously 11 participated in a joint venture with another business 12 concern (whether or not such other business concern 13 was itself a small business concern), the Adminis- 14 trator shall establish regulations— 15 ‘‘(A) requiring contracting officers to con- 16 sider the record of past performance of the 17 joint venture when evaluating the past perform- 18 ance of the small business concern; and 19 ‘‘(B) requiring the small business concern 20 to inform the contracting officer what duties 21 and responsibilities the small business concern 22 carried out as part of the joint venture.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jan 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5146.RFS H5146 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 5146 RFS SEC. 3. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF FIRST-TIER 1 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS. 2 Section 8(d)(17) of the Small Business Act (15 3 U.S.C. 637(d)(17)) is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(17) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS FOR CER- 5 TAIN SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon request by a 7 small business concern that performed as a first 8 tier subcontractor on a covered contract (as de- 9 fined in paragraph 13(A)) that is submitting an 10 offer for a solicitation, the prime contractor for 11 such covered contract shall submit to the con- 12 tracting agency issuing the solicitation or to 13 such small business concern a record of past 14 performance for such small business concern 15 with respect to such covered contract. 16 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION.—A contracting offi- 17 cer shall consider the record of past perform- 18 ance of a small business concern provided under 19 subparagraph (A) when evaluating an offer for 20 a prime contract made by such small business 21 concern.’’. 22 SEC. 4. RULEMAKING. 23 (a) SBA RULES.—Not later than the end of the 120- 24 day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 25 the Administrator of the Small Business Administration 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jan 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5146.RFS H5146 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 5146 RFS shall issue rules to carry out this Act and the amendments 1 made by this Act. 2 (b) FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.—Not later 3 than the end of the 120-day period beginning on the date 4 that rules are issued under subsection (a), the Federal Ac- 5 quisition Regulation shall be revised to reflect such rules. 6 SEC. 5. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 7 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 8 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 9 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 10 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 11 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 12 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 13 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 14 vote on passage. 15 Passed the House of Representatives January 8, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jan 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5146.RFS H5146 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS