I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4317 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a pilot program providing 

past performance ratings for other small business subcontractors, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 5, 2016 

Mr. HANNA (for himself and Mr. TAKAI) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a pilot program providing past performance ratings for other small 

business subcontractors, 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 ‘‘Promoting Reliable 

5 Subcontractors Act of 2016’’ or as the ‘‘PROS Act of 

6 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROVIDING SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS 

2 RATINGS FOR PAST PERFORMANCE ON A 

3 CONTRACT. 

4 Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

5 637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 

6 new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(17) PILOT PROGRAM PROVIDING PAST PER8 FORMANCE RATINGS FOR OTHER SMALL BUSINESS

9 SUBCONTRACTORS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Adminis11 trator shall establish a pilot program for a 

12 small business concern performing as a first 

13 tier subcontractor for a covered contract (as de14 fined in subparagraph 13(A)) to request a past 

15 performance rating in the system used by the 

16 Federal Government to monitor or record con17 tractor past performance. 

18 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—A small business con19 cern described in subparagraph (A) shall sub20 mit an application to the appropriate official for 

21 a past performance rating. Such application 

22 shall include written evidence of the past per23 formance factors for which the small business 

24 concern seeks a rating and a suggested rating. 

25 ‘‘(C) DETERMINATION.—The appropriate 

26 official shall submit the application from the 


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1 small business concern to the contracting officer 

2 (or a designee of such officer) for the covered 

3 contract and to the prime contractor for review. 

4 The contracting officer (or designee) and the 

5 prime contractor shall, not later than 30 days 

6 after receipt of the application, submit to the 

7 appropriate official a response regarding the 

8 application. 

9 ‘‘(i) AGREEMENT ON RATING.—If the 

10 contracting officer (or designee) and the 

11 prime contractor agree on a past perform12 ance rating, or if either the contracting of13 ficer (or designee) or the prime contractor 

14 fail to respond and the responding indi15 vidual agrees with the rating of the appli16 cant small business concern, the appro17 priate official shall enter the agreed-upon 

18 past performance rating in the system de19 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

20 ‘‘(ii) DISAGREEMENT ON RATING.—If 

21 the contracting officer (or designee) and 

22 the prime contractor fail to respond within 

23 30 days or if they disagree about the rat24 ing, or if either the contracting officer (or 

25 designee) or the prime contractor fail to 


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1 respond and the responding individual dis2 agrees with the rating of the applicant 

3 small business concern, the contracting of4 ficer (or designee) or the prime contractor 

5 shall submit a notice contesting the appli6 cation to appropriate official. The appro7 priate official shall follow the requirements 

8 of subparagraph (D). 

9 ‘‘(D) PROCEDURE FOR RATING.—Not later 

10 than 14 calendar days after receipt of a notice 

11 under subparagraph (C)(ii), the appropriate of12 ficial shall submit such notice to the applicant 

13 small business concern. Such concern may sub14 mit comments, rebuttals, or additional informa15 tion relating to the past performance of such 

16 concern not later 14 calendar days after receipt 

17 of such notice. The appropriate official shall 

18 enter the into the system described in subpara19 graph (A) a rating that is neither favorable nor 

20 unfavorable along with the initial application 

21 from the small business concern, the responses 

22 of the contracting officer (or designee) and the 

23 prime contractor, and any additional informa24 tion provided by the small business concern. 


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1 ‘‘(E) USE OF INFORMATION.—A small 

2 business subcontractor may use a past perform3 ance rating given under this paragraph to es4 tablish its past performance for a prime con5 tract. 

6 ‘‘(F) DURATION.—The pilot program es7 tablished under this paragraph shall terminate 

8 3 years after the date on which the first small 

9 business concern receives a past performance 

10 rating for performance as a first tier subcon11 tractor. 

12 ‘‘(G) REPORT.—The Comptroller General 

13 of the United States shall begin an assessment 

14 of the pilot program 1 year after the establish15 ment of such program. Not later than 6 months 

16 after beginning such assessment, the Comp17 troller General shall submit a report to the 

18 Committee on Small Business and Entrepre19 neurship of the Senate and the Committee on 

20 Small Business of the House of Representa21 tives, which shall include— 

22 ‘‘(i) the number of small business con23 cerns that have received past performance 

24 ratings under the pilot program; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the number of applications in 

2 which the contracting officer (or designee) 

3 or the prime contractor contested the ap4 plication of the small business concern; 

5 ‘‘(iii) any suggestions or recommenda6 tions the Comptroller General or the small 

7 business concerns participating in the pro8 gram have to address disputes between the 

9 small business concern, the contracting of10 ficer (or designee), and the prime con11 tractor on past performance ratings; and 

12 ‘‘(iv) any suggestions or recommenda13 tion the Comptroller General has to im14 prove the operation of the pilot program. 

15 ‘‘(H) APPROPRIATE OFFICIAL DEFINED.— 

16 In this paragraph, the term ‘appropriate offi17 cial’ means a Commercial Market Representa18 tive or other individual designated by the senior 

19 official appointed by the Administrator with re20 sponsibilities under sections 8, 15, 31 and 36.’’. 

Æ 


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