I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3980 

To amend the Small Business Act with respect to procurement center 

representatives and acquisition planning, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2012 

Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER (for herself and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act with respect to procurement center representatives and acquisition planning, 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Small Business Opportunity Act of 2012’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.— 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—PROCUREMENT CENTER REPRESENTATIVES 

Sec. 101. Procurement center representatives. 

Sec. 102. Small Business Act contracting requirements training. 


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TITLE II—ACQUISITION PLANNING 

Sec. 201. Acquisition planning. 

1 TITLE I—PROCUREMENT 

2 CENTER REPRESENTATIVES 

3 SEC. 101. PROCUREMENT CENTER REPRESENTATIVES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 15(l) of the Small Busi5 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 644(l)) is amended by striking the 

6 subsection enumerator and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(l) PROCUREMENT CENTER REPRESENTATIVES.— 

8 ’’. 

9 (b) ASSIGNMENT AND ROLE.—Paragraph (1) of sec10 tion 15(l) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 644(l)) is amended to 

11 read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(1) ASSIGNMENT AND ROLE.—The Adminis13 trator shall assign to each major procurement center 

14 a procurement center representative with such as15 sistance as may be appropriate.’’. 

16 (c) ACTIVITIES.—Section 15(l)(2) of such Act (15 

17 U.S.C. 644(l)(2)) is amended— 

18 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 

19 by striking ‘‘(2) In addition to carrying out the re20 sponsibilities assigned by the Administration, a 

21 breakout’’ and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(2) ACTIVITIES.—A’’; 

23 (2) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 

24 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) attend any provisioning conference or 

2 similar evaluation session during which a deter3 mination may be made with respect to the pro4 curement method to be used to satisfy a re5 quirement, review any acquisition plan with re6 spect to a requirement, and make recommenda7 tions regarding procurement method determina8 tions and acquisition plans;’’; 

9 (3) in subparagraph (B)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘(B) review, at any time, 

11 restrictions on competition’’ and inserting the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(B) review, at any time, barriers to small 

14 business participation in Federal contracting’’; 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘items’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘goods and services’’; and 

17 (C) by striking ‘‘limitations’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘barriers’’; 

19 (4) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘(C) review 

20 restrictions on competition’’ and inserting the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(C) review barriers to small business par23 ticipation in Federal contracting’’; 

24 (5) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(D) review any bundled or consolidated 

2 solicitation or contract in accordance with this 

3 Act;’’; 

4 (6) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘(E) have 

5 access to’’ and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(E) have access to’’; and 

7 (7) by striking subparagraphs (F) and (G) and 

8 inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(F) receive, from personnel responsible 

10 for reviewing unsolicited proposals, copies of 

11 unsolicited proposals from small business con12 cerns and any information on outcomes relating 

13 to such proposals; 

14 ‘‘(G) participate in any session or planning 

15 process and review any documents with respect 

16 to a decision to convert an activity performed 

17 by a small business concern to an activity per18 formed by a Federal employee; 

19 ‘‘(H) have electronic access to any acquisi20 tion plan developed or in development with re21 spect to a procurement activity; 

22 ‘‘(I) be an advocate for the maximum prac23 ticable utilization of small business concerns in 

24 Federal contracting, including by advocating 


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1 against the bundling of contract requirements 

2 when not justified; and 

3 ‘‘(J) carry out any other responsibility as4 signed by the Administrator.’’. 

5 (d) APPEALS.—Section 15(l)(3) of such Act (15 

6 U.S.C. 644(l)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘(3) A breakout 

7 procurement center representative’’ and inserting the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(3) APPEALS.—A procurement center rep10 resentative’’. 

11 (e) NOTIFICATION AND INCLUSION.—Paragraph (4) 

12 of section 15(l) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 644(l)) is amended 

13 to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(4) NOTIFICATION AND INCLUSION.—A pro15 curement center representative shall be notified of 

16 and included in all applicable acquisition planning 

17 processes.’’. 

18 (f) POSITION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 15(l)(5) of 

19 such Act (15 U.S.C. 644(l)(5)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking the paragraph enumerator and 

21 inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(5) POSITION REQUIREMENTS.—’’; 

23 (2) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) and 

24 inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A procurement center 

2 representative assigned under this subsection 

3 shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) be a full-time employee of the Ad5 ministration; 

6 ‘‘(ii) be fully qualified, technically 

7 trained, and familiar with the goods and 

8 services procured by the major procure9 ment center to which that representative is 

10 assigned; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) have a Level III Federal Acqui12 sition Certification in Contracting (or any 

13 successor certification) or the equivalent 

14 Department of Defense certification.’’; and 

15 (3) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘(C) The 

16 Administration shall establish personnel positions for 

17 breakout procurement representatives and advisers 

18 assigned pursuant to’’ and inserting the following: 

19 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATION.—The Administrator 

20 shall establish personnel positions for procure21 ment center representatives assigned under’’. 

22 (g) MAJOR PROCUREMENT CENTER DEFINED.—Sec23 tion 15(l)(6) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 644(l)(6)) is amend24 ed— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘(6) For purposes’’ and insert2 ing the following: 

3 ‘‘(6) MAJOR PROCUREMENT CENTER DE4 FINED.—For purposes’’; and 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘other than commercial items 

6 and which has the potential to incur significant sav7 ings as the result of the placement of a breakout 

8 procurement center representative’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘goods or services, including goods or services that 

10 are commercially available’’. 

11 (h) TRAINING.—Section 15(l)(7) of such Act (15 

12 U.S.C. 644(l)(7)) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking the paragraph enumerator and 

14 inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘(7) TRAINING.—’’; 

16 (2) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION.—At such times as 

19 the Administrator deems appropriate, a pro20 curement center representative shall provide 

21 training for contracting officers, other appro22 priate personnel of the procurement center to 

23 which such representative is assigned, and small 

24 businesses groups seeking to do business with 

25 such procurement center. Such training shall 


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1 acquaint the participants with the provisions of 

2 this subsection and shall instruct the partici3 pants in methods designed to further the pur4 poses of this subsection. 

5 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—A procurement center 

6 representative may provide training under sub7 paragraph (A) only to the extent that the train8 ing does not interfere with the representative 

9 carrying out other activities under this sub10 section.’’; and 

11 (3) in subparagraph (B)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘(B) The breakout pro13 curement center representative’’ and inserting 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘(8) ANNUAL BRIEFING AND REPORT.—A pro16 curement center representative’’; and 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘sixty’’ and inserting ‘‘60’’. 

18 SEC. 102. SMALL BUSINESS ACT CONTRACTING REQUIRE19 MENTS TRAINING. 

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Defense Acquisition 

22 University and the Federal Acquisition Institute shall each 

23 provide a course on contracting requirements under the 

24 Small Business Act. 


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1 (b) COURSE REQUIRED.—To have a Federal Acquisi2 tion Certification in Contracting (or any successor certifi3 cation) or the equivalent Department of Defense certifi4 cation an individual shall be required to complete the 

5 course established under subsection (a). 

6 TITLE II—ACQUISITION 

7 PLANNING 

8 SEC. 201. ACQUISITION PLANNING. 

9 Section 15(e)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

10 U.S.C. 644(e)(1)) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘the various agencies’’ and in12 serting ‘‘a Federal department or agency’’; and 

13 (2) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘and 

14 each such Federal department or agency shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) enumerate opportunities for the par16 ticipation of small business concerns during all 

17 acquisition planning processes and in all acqui18 sition plans; 

19 ‘‘(B) invite the participation of the appro20 priate Director of Small and Disadvantaged 

21 Business Utilization in all acquisition planning 

22 processes and provide that Director access to all 

23 acquisition plans in development; and 

24 ‘‘(C) invite the participation of the appro25 priate procurement center representative in all 


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1 acquisition planning processes and provide that 

2 representative access to all acquisition plans in 

3 development.’’. 

Æ 


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