Small Business Payment for Performance Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2726 To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial payment to small business contractors that request an equitable adjustment due to a change in the terms of a construction contract, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. STAUBER (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mr. VEASEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial payment to small business contractors that request an equitable adjustment due to a change in the terms of a construction contract, 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 ‘‘Small Business Pay- 4 ment for Performance Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.IH H2726 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2726 IH SEC. 2. EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION 1 CONTRACTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 15 of the Small Business 3 Act (15 U.S.C. 644) is amended— 4 (1) by redesignating subsections (x) and (y) as 5 subsections (y) and (z), respectively; and 6 (2) by inserting after subsection (w) the fol- 7 lowing new subsection: 8 ‘‘(x) INTERIM PARTIAL PAYMENTS FOR EQUITABLE 9 ADJUSTMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.— 10 ‘‘(1) REQUEST FOR AN EQUITABLE ADJUST- 11 MENT.—A small business concern that was awarded 12 a construction contract by an agency may submit a 13 request for an equitable adjustment to the con- 14 tracting officer of such agency if the contracting of- 15 ficer directs a change in the terms of the contract 16 performance without the agreement of the small 17 business concern. Such request shall— 18 ‘‘(A) be timely made pursuant to the terms 19 of the contract; and 20 ‘‘(B) specify the estimated amount re- 21 quired to cover additional costs resulting from 22 such change in the terms. 23 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—Upon receipt of a request for 24 equitable adjustment from a small business concern 25 under paragraph (1), the agency shall provide to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.IH H2726 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2726 IH such concern an interim partial payment in an 1 amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the esti- 2 mated amount under paragraph (1)(B). 3 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Any interim partial pay- 4 ment made under this section may not be deemed to 5 be an action to definitize the request for an equi- 6 table adjustment. 7 ‘‘(4) FLOW-DOWN OF INTERIM PARTIAL PAY- 8 MENT AMOUNTS.—A small business concern that re- 9 ceives an equitable adjustment under this subsection 10 shall pay to a first tier subcontractor of such con- 11 cern the portion of each interim partial payment re- 12 ceived that is attributable to the increased costs of 13 performance incurred by such subcontractor due to 14 the change in the terms of the contract performance 15 described in paragraph (1). A first tier subcon- 16 tractor that receives a portion of an interim partial 17 payment under this section shall pay to a subcon- 18 tractor (at any tier) the appropriate portion of such 19 payment.’’. 20 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Administrator of the 21 Small Business Administration shall implement the re- 22 quirements of this section not later than the earlier of the 23 following dates: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2726.IH H2726 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2726 IH (1) The first day of the first full fiscal year be- 1 ginning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 2 (2) October 1, 2025. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2726.IH H2726 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB