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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Home5 land Security Mentor-Prote ́ge ́ Program Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY MENTOR2 PROTE ́ GE ́ PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle H of title VIII of the 

4 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 

5 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 890B. MENTOR-PROTE ́ GE ́ PROGRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

8 Department a mentor-prote ́ge ́ program (in this section re9 ferred to as the ‘Program’) under which a mentor firm 

10 enters into an agreement with a prote ́ge ́ firm for the pur11 pose of assisting the prote ́ge ́ firm to compete for prime 

12 contracts and subcontracts of the Department. 

13 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary shall establish cri14 teria for mentor firms and prote ́ge ́ firms to be eligible to 

15 participate in the Program, including a requirement that 

16 a firm is not included on any list maintained by the Fed17 eral Government of contractors that have been suspended 

18 or debarred. 

19 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM APPLICATION AND APPROVAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—The Secretary, acting 

21 through the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 

22 Business Utilization of the Department, shall estab23 lish a process for submission of an application joint24 ly by a mentor firm and the prote ́ge ́ firm selected by 

25 the mentor firm. The application shall include each 

26 of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) A description of the assistance to be 

2 provided by the mentor firm, including, to the 

3 extent available, the number and a brief de4 scription of each anticipated subcontract to be 

5 awarded to the prote ́ge ́ firm. 

6 ‘‘(B) A schedule with milestones for 

7 achieving the assistance to be provided over the 

8 period of participation in the Program. 

9 ‘‘(C) An estimate of the costs to be in10 curred by the mentor firm for providing assist11 ance under the Program. 

12 ‘‘(D) Attestation Attestations that Program 

13 participants will submit to the Secretary reports 

14 at times specified by the Secretary to assist the 

15 Secretary in evaluating the prote ́ge ́ firm’s devel16 opmental progress. 

17 ‘‘(E) Attestations that Program partici18 pants will inform the Secretary in the event of 

19 a change in eligibility or voluntary withdrawal 

20 from the Program. 

21 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

22 receipt of an application pursuant to paragraph (1), 

23 the head of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged 

24 Business Utilization shall notify applicants of apVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:21 Nov 10, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4727.RS H4727

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1 proval or, in the case of disapproval, the process for 

2 resubmitting an application for reconsideration. 

3 ‘‘(3) RESCISSION.—The head of the Office of 

4 Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization may 

5 rescind the approval of an application under this 

6 subsection if it determines that such action is in the 

7 best interest of the Department. 

8 ‘‘(d) PROGRAM DURATION.—A mentor firm and 

9 prote ́ge ́ firm approved under subsection (c) shall enter into 

10 an agreement to participate in the Program for a period 

11 of not less than 36 months. 

12 ‘‘(e) PROGRAM BENEFITS.—A mentor firm and 

13 prote ́ge ́ firm that enter into an agreement under sub14 section (d) may receive the following Program benefits: 

15 ‘‘(1) With respect to an award of a contract 

16 that requires a subcontracting plan, a mentor firm 

17 may receive evaluation credit for participating in the 

18 Program. 

19 ‘‘(2) With respect to an award of a contract 

20 that requires a subcontracting plan, a mentor firm 

21 may receive credit for a prote ́ge ́ firm performing as 

22 a first tier subcontractor or a subcontractor at any 

23 tier in an amount equal to the total dollar value of 

24 any subcontracts awarded to such prote ́ge ́ firm. 


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1 ‘‘(3) A prote ́ge ́ firm may receive technical, man2 agerial, financial, or any other mutually agreed upon 

3 benefit from a mentor firm, including a subcontract 

4 award. 

5 ‘‘(4) Any other benefits identified by the Sec6 retary. 

7 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

9 the head of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Busi10 ness Utilization shall submit to the Committee on Home11 land Security and Governmental Affairs and the Committee 

12 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 

13 the Committees on Homeland Security and Small Busi14 ness of the House of Representatives a report that— 

15 ‘‘(1) identifies each agreement between a men16 tor firm and a prote ́ge ́ firm entered into under this 

17 section, including the number of prote ́ge ́ firm partici18 pants that are— 

19 ‘‘(A) small business concerns; 

20 ‘‘(B) small business concerns owned and 

21 controlled by veterans; 

22 ‘‘(C) small business concerns owned and 

23 controlled by service-disabled veterans; 

24 ‘‘(D) qualified HUBZone small business 

25 concerns; 


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1 ‘‘(E) small business concerns owned and 

2 controlled by socially and economically dis3 advantaged individuals; 

4 ‘‘(F) women-owned small business con5 cerns; 

6 ‘‘(G) historically Black colleges and univer7 sities; and 

8 ‘‘(H) minority institutions of higher edu9 cation; 

10 ‘‘(2) describes the type of assistance provided 

11 by mentor firms to prote ́ge ́ firms; 

12 ‘‘(3) identifies contracts within the Department 

13 in which a mentor firm serving as the prime con14 tractor provided subcontracts to a prote ́ge ́ firm 

15 under the Program; and 

16 ‘‘(4) assesses the degree to which there has 

17 been— 

18 ‘‘(A) an increase in the technical capabili19 ties of prote ́ge ́ firms; and 

20 ‘‘(B) an increase in the quantity and esti21 mated value of prime contract and subcontract 

22 awards to prote ́ge ́ firms for the period covered 

23 by the report. 

24 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(g) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to limit, diminish, impair, or other3 wise affect the authority of the Department to participate 

4 in any program carried out by or requiring approval of 

5 the Small Business Administration or adopt or follow any 

6 regulation or policy that the Administrator of the Small 

7 Business Administration may promulgate, except that, to 

8 the extent that any provision of this section (including sub9 section (h)) conflicts with any other provision of law, regu10 lation, or policy, this section shall control. 

11 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.— In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI13 VERSITY.—The term ‘historically Black college or 

14 university’ means any of the historically Black col15 leges and universities referred to in section 2323 of 

16 title 10, United States Code, as in effect on March 

17 1, 2018. 

18 ‘‘(2) MENTOR FIRM.—The term ‘mentor firm’ 

19 means a for-profit business concern that is not a 

20 small business concern that— 

21 ‘‘(A) has the ability to assist and commits 

22 to assisting a prote ́ge ́ to compete for Federal 

23 prime contracts and subcontracts; and 

24 ‘‘(B) satisfies any other requirements im25 posed by the Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(3) MINORITY INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDU2 CATION.—The term ‘minority institution of higher 

3 education’ means an institution of higher education 

4 with a student body that reflects the composition 

5 specified in section 312(b) of the Higher Education 

6 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(b)). 

7 ‘‘(4) PROTE ́GE ́ FIRM.—The term ‘prote ́ge ́ firm’ 

8 means a small business concern, a historically Black 

9 college or university, or a minority institution of 

10 higher education that— 

11 ‘‘(A) is eligible to enter into a prime con12 tract or subcontract with the Department; and 

13 ‘‘(B) satisfies any other requirements im14 posed by the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(5) SMALL BUSINESS ACT DEFINITIONS.—The 

16 terms ‘small business concern’, ‘small business con17 cern owned and controlled by veterans’, ‘small busi18 ness concern owned and controlled by service-dis19 abled veterans’, ‘qualified HUBZone small business 

20 concern’, and ‘small business concern owned and 

21 controlled by women’ have the meaning meanings 

22 given such terms, respectively, under section 3 of the 

23 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). The term 

24 ‘small business concern owned and controlled by so25 cially and economically disadvantaged individuals’ 


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1 has the meaning given such term in section 

2 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 637(d)(3)(C)).’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

5 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 

6 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

7 890A the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 890B. Mentor-prote ́ge ́ program.’’. 


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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 


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