I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 561 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the oversight of contracts 

awarded by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to small business concerns 

owned and controlled by veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2019 

Mr. BERGMAN (for himself, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, and Mr. DUNN) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

oversight of contracts awarded by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans, 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 ‘‘Protecting Business 

5 Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON SUBCONTRACTS UNDER CON2 TRACTS WITH SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS 

3 OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY VETERANS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8127 of title 38, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsection (k) as sub7 section (l); and 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol9 lowing new subsection (k): 

10 ‘‘(k) LIMITATIONS ON SUBCONTRACTING.—(1)(A) 

11 The requirements applicable to a covered small business 

12 concern under section 46 of the Small Business Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 657s) shall apply with respect to a small business 

14 concern owned and controlled by veterans that is awarded 

15 a contract under this section. In the case of a contract 

16 which is principally for supplies from a regular dealer in 

17 such supplies and for which the Administrator of the 

18 Small Business Administration has granted a waiver pur19 suant to subsection (a)(4)(B) of such section, a small busi20 ness concern owned and controlled by veterans that is 

21 awarded such a contract under this section may not ex22 pend on subcontractors more than 50 percent of the 

23 amount paid to the concern under the contract. 

24 ‘‘(B) For purposes of applying the requirements of 

25 section 46 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657s) 

26 pursuant to subparagraph (A), the term ‘similarly situated 


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1 entity’ used in such section 46 includes a subcontractor 

2 for a small business concern owned and controlled by vet3 erans described in such subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may award a contract under this 

5 section only after the Secretary obtains from the offeror 

6 a certification that the offeror will comply with the re7 quirements described in paragraph (1)(A) if awarded the 

8 contract. Such certification shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) specify the exact performance require10 ments applicable under such paragraph; and 

11 ‘‘(B) explicitly acknowledge that the certifi12 cation is subject to section 1001 of title 18. 

13 ‘‘(3)(A) The Director of Small and Disadvantaged 

14 Business Utilization for the Department, established pur15 suant to section 15(k) of the Small Business Act (15 

16 U.S.C. 644(k)), and the Chief Acquisition Officer of the 

17 Department, established pursuant to section 1702 of title 

18 41, shall jointly implement a process using the systems 

19 described in section 16(g)(2) of the Small Business Act 

20 (15 U.S.C. 645(g)(2)), and any other relevant systems 

21 available, to monitor compliance with this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(B) The Director of Small and Disadvantaged Busi23 ness Utilization and the Chief Acquisition Officer shall 

24 jointly refer any violations or suspected violations of this 

25 subsection to the Inspector General of the Department. 


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1 ‘‘(C) If the Secretary determines, in consultation with 

2 the Inspector General of the Department, that a small 

3 business concern that is awarded a contract under this 

4 section did not act in good faith with respect to the re5 quirements described in paragraph (1)(A), the small busi6 ness concern shall be subject to any or all of the following 

7 consequences— 

8 ‘‘(i) referral to the Debarment and Suspension 

9 Committee of the Department; 

10 ‘‘(ii) a fine under section 16(g)(1) of the Small 

11 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 645(g)(1)); and 

12 ‘‘(iii) prosecution for violating section 1001 of 

13 title 18. 

14 ‘‘(D) Not later than November 30 for each of fiscal 

15 years 2020 through 2024, the Inspector General shall sub16 mit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate 

17 and House of Representatives a report for the fiscal year 

18 preceding the fiscal year during which the report is sub19 mitted that includes, for the fiscal year covered by the re20 port— 

21 ‘‘(i) the number of referred violations and sus22 pected violations received under subparagraph (B); 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(ii) the disposition of such referred violations, 

25 including the number of small business concerns susVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Jan 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H561.IH H561

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1 pended or debarred from Federal contracting or re2 ferred to the Attorney General for prosecution.’’. 

3 (b) APPLICATION.—Subsection (k) of section 8127 of 

4 title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 

5 shall apply with respect to a contract entered into after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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