II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5344 

To establish a pilot program for transitioning small businesses in the 

construction or engineering industries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 21, 2022 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, and Mr. KELLY) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot program for transitioning small businesses in the construction or engineering industries, 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 ‘‘Solving the Unneces5 sary Contracting Cliff for Enterprises to Scale Success6 fully Act’’ or the ‘‘SUCCESS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TRANSITIONING SMALL BUSI2 NESSES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR ENGI3 NEERING INDUSTRIES. 

4 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 

5 amended by inserting after section 32 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 33. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TRANSITIONING SMALL 

7 BUSINESSES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR EN8 GINEERING INDUSTRIES. 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE CONCERN.—The term ‘eligible 

11 concern’ means a concern that has grown to exceed 

12 the size standard applicable to the North American 

13 Industry Classification System code corresponding 

14 to— 

15 ‘‘(A) commercial and institutional building 

16 construction; or 

17 ‘‘(B) engineering services. 

18 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘Participant’ 

19 means an eligible concern that— 

20 ‘‘(A) meets the criteria described in sub21 section (d); and 

22 ‘‘(B) participates in the Program. 

23 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means 

24 the pilot program for transitioning small businesses 

25 established under paragraph (b). 


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1 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator 

3 shall promulgate regulations establishing a pilot program 

4 to foster the continued success of eligible concerns by per5 mitting those concerns to qualify as small for certain con6 tracts during a transitional period. 

7 ‘‘(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Program is to 

8 assist eligible concerns in their transition from small busi9 ness concerns to other-than-small and thereby increase 

10 competition in the unrestricted Federal marketplace. 

11 ‘‘(d) CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) ELECTION.—An eligible concern may make 

13 a one-time election, which shall not be changed, to 

14 participate, with respect to the primary activity of 

15 the eligible concern, under— 

16 ‘‘(A) the North American Industry Classi17 fication System Code corresponding to commer18 cial and institutional building construction; or 

19 ‘‘(B) the North American Industry Classi20 fication System Code corresponding to engi21 neering services. 

22 ‘‘(2) REGISTRATION.—An eligible concern 

23 shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) register as a Participant with the 

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1 cessor system) on the date on which the eligible 

2 concern makes the election under paragraph (1) 

3 in the registry described in subsection (h); and 

4 ‘‘(B) ensure that the registration of the eli5 gible concern is current and accurate. 

6 ‘‘(3) TERM OF THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

8 subparagraph (B), the transitional period, dur9 ing which an eligible concern may be eligible to 

10 participate in the Program, shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) begin on the date which the eligi12 ble concern first exceeds the size standard 

13 applicable to the North American Industry 

14 Classification System code corresponding 

15 to the industry elected by the concern pur16 suant to paragraph (1); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) not exceed 7 consecutive years. 

18 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—An eligible concern 

19 first exceeding the size standard described in 

20 subparagraph (A)(i) within the 7-year period 

21 immediately preceding the effective date of reg22 ulations issued under subsection (b) shall be eli23 gible to participate in the Program for the re24 mainder of the 7-year period beginning on the 


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1 date which the concern first exceeded the size 

2 standard. 

3 ‘‘(4) ACTIVITY TARGETS.—The regulations de4 scribed in subsection (b) shall establish non-small 

5 business set aside business activity targets that— 

6 ‘‘(A) are applicable to Participants during 

7 the third year and each succeeding year of Pro8 gram participation; and 

9 ‘‘(B) during the period of time described in 

10 subparagraph (A), shall reflect a reasonably 

11 consistent increase in sales other than obtained 

12 through contracts set aside for small business 

13 concerns, expressed as a percentage of total 

14 sales. 

15 ‘‘(5) CAP ON AVERAGE ANNUAL RECEIPTS.— 

16 Each Participant shall be subject to a cap on aver17 age annual receipts that is 5 times the size standard 

18 applicable to the North American Industry Classi19 fication System code corresponding to the industry 

20 elected by the concern, calculated consistent with the 

21 method in 121.104 of title 13, Code of Federal Reg22 ulations, or any successor regulation. 

23 ‘‘(6) CERTIFICATION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each Participant shall 

25 be required to annually certify in the System 


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1 for Award Management (or any successor sys2 tem) as to whether or not the Participant has— 

3 ‘‘(i) met the activity target established 

4 under paragraph (4) for the preceding 

5 year; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) complied with the restrictions de7 scribed in subsection (e). 

8 ‘‘(B) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If a Participant 

9 certifies that the Participant has not met the 

10 applicable activity targets established under 

11 paragraph (4) for 2 consecutive years, or cer12 tifies that the Participant has not complied with 

13 the restrictions described in subsection (e), the 

14 Participant shall no longer be eligible to partici15 pate in the Program. 

16 ‘‘(7) PARTICIPANT REPORT.—The regulations 

17 issued under subsection (b) shall establish— 

18 ‘‘(A) requirements for annual reporting by 

19 Participants to the Administrator during Pro20 gram participation, to include reporting on 

21 compliance with activity targets established 

22 under paragraph (4), the number and dollar 

23 value of contracts awarded based on eligibility 

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1 quired for the registry under subsection (h); 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) reporting requirements applicable for 

4 a period of not less than 5 years after exiting 

5 the Program. 

6 ‘‘(8) NO REINSTATEMENT.—Upon the expira7 tion of the transitional period, or once a Participant 

8 otherwise becomes ineligible for the Program, the 

9 concern shall not be eligible for reinstatement in the 

10 Program. 

11 ‘‘(e) RESTRICTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) MENTOR-PROTE ́GE ́.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A Participant may not 

14 apply to be a prote ́ge ́ under a mentor-prote ́ge ́

15 program established under this Act. 

16 ‘‘(B) EXISTING PROTE ́GE ́S.—A Participant 

17 that is already a prote ́ge ́ prior to registration 

18 under the Program under subsection (d)(2) 

19 may, in years 1 and 2 of the transitional period 

20 of the Program, continue to submit proposals in 

21 a mentor-prote ́ge ́ program established under 

22 this Act. 

23 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS.—In addition 

24 to the restrictions described in paragraph (1), the 

25 Administrator may include additional restrictions for 


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1 Participants consistent with the purposes of this 

2 Act. 

3 ‘‘(f) PURPOSES FOR WHICH PARTICIPANTS MAY

4 QUALIFY AS SMALL.—Subject to the restrictions in para5 graph (e), a Participant may otherwise qualify as small 

6 for purposes of the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Contracts that are set aside for small busi8 ness concerns and assigned a North American In9 dustry Classification System code corresponding to 

10 the industry elected by the Participant under sub11 section (d)(1) and— 

12 ‘‘(A) the Government of the United States 

13 expects to be equal to or exceed— 

14 ‘‘(i) for commercial and institutional 

15 building construction, $5,000,000; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) for engineering services, 

17 $1,000,000; and 

18 ‘‘(B) any orders under such contracts irre19 spective of the value of the order. 

20 ‘‘(2) Goals established pursuant to section 

21 15(g) for participation by small business concerns, 

22 small business concerns owned and controlled by 

23 service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small 

24 business concerns, small business concerns owned 

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1 taged individuals, and small business concerns 

2 owned and controlled by women. 

3 ‘‘(g) TERMINATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Program shall termi5 nate on the date that is 10 years after the date of 

6 enactment of this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) CONTINUATION OF PARTICIPATION.—Not8 withstanding paragraph (1), any Participant in the 

9 program as of the date on which the Program termi10 nates under paragraph (1) may continue to partici11 pate until the expiration of the term of the Partici12 pant under subsection (d)(3). 

13 ‘‘(h) PUBLICATION OF REGISTRY REQUIRED.—The 

14 Administrator shall establish and maintain in the System 

15 for Award Management (or any successor system) a reg16 istry of eligible Participants, which registry shall, to the 

17 extent practicable— 

18 ‘‘(1) include the name, address, transitional pe19 riod entry and exit dates, and elected North Amer20 ican Industry Classification System code with re21 spect to each Participant; and 

22 ‘‘(2) be updated by the Administrator not less 

23 than annually. 


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1 ‘‘(i) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE MAIN2 TAINED.—The Administrator shall maintain data regard3 ing— 

4 ‘‘(1) the number of Participants in the Pro5 gram; 

6 ‘‘(2) the number of former Participants that 

7 have exited the Program; 

8 ‘‘(3) the number of former Participants that 

9 have successfully transitioned to other-than-small, 

10 under such criteria as the Administrator may estab11 lish; 

12 ‘‘(4) the number of former Participants that 

13 have returned to being small under North American 

14 Industry Classification System code elected by the 

15 Participant under subsection (d)(1); and 

16 ‘‘(5) the total dollar value of small business 

17 awards made each fiscal year to Participants by 

18 each Federal agency. 

19 ‘‘(j) GAO STUDY AND REPORT.— 

20 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—Not later than 2 years after the 

21 date of enactment of this section, the Comptroller 

22 General of the United States shall begin conducting 

23 a study to evaluate the implementation of the Pro24 gram. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 8 years after the 

2 date of enactment of this section, the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States shall submit to Con4 gress a report on the results of the study required 

5 under paragraph (1), which shall include— 

6 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the feasibility and 

7 advisability of broadening the Program to in8 clude additional industries, as defined under the 

9 North American Industry Classification System; 

10 ‘‘(B) the effects of the Program, if any, on 

11 Participants and on the industrial base; 

12 ‘‘(C) any recommendations for improving 

13 the Program, including whether the Program 

14 should be made permanent; and 

15 ‘‘(D) any additional findings and rec16 ommendations as the Comptroller General of 

17 the United States considers appropriate.’’. 

Æ 


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