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 performance as part of a joint venture into account when evaluating the small business concern, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unlocking Opportuni3 ties for Small Businesses Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT VEN5 TURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. 

6 Section 15(e) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

7 644(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(5) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT

9 VENTURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—With 

10 respect to evaluating an offer for a prime contract 

11 made by a small business concern that previously 

12 participated in a joint venture with another business 

13 concern (whether or not such other business concern 

14 was itself a small business concern), the Adminis15 trator shall establish regulations— 

16 ‘‘(A) requiring contracting officers to con17 sider the record of past performance of the 

18 joint venture when evaluating the past perform19 ance of the small business concern; and 

20 ‘‘(B) requiring the small business concern 

21 to inform the contracting officer what duties 

22 and responsibilities the small business concern 

23 carried out as part of the joint venture.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF FIRST-TIER 

2 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS. 

3 Section 8(d)(17) of the Small Business Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 637(d)(17)) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(17) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS FOR CER6 TAIN SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon request by a 

8 small business concern that performed as a first 

9 tier subcontractor on a covered contract (as de10 fined in paragraph 13(A)) that is submitting an 

11 offer for a solicitation, the prime contractor for 

12 such covered contract shall submit to the con13 tracting agency issuing the solicitation or to 

14 such small business concern a record of past 

15 performance for such small business concern 

16 with respect to such covered contract. 

17 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION.—A contracting offi18 cer shall consider the record of past perform19 ance of a small business concern provided under 

20 subparagraph (A) when evaluating an offer for 

21 a prime contract made by such small business 

22 concern.’’. 

23 SEC. 4. RULEMAKING. 

24 (a) SBA RULES.—Not later than the end of the 120- 

25 day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 

26 the Administrator of the Small Business Administration 


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HR 5146 RFS

1 shall issue rules to carry out this Act and the amendments 

2 made by this Act. 

3 (b) FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.—Not later 

4 than the end of the 120-day period beginning on the date 

5 that rules are issued under subsection (a), the Federal Ac6 quisition Regulation shall be revised to reflect such rules. 

7 SEC. 5. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

8 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

9 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

10 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

11 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

12 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

13 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro14 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

15 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 8, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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