IB 

Union Calendar No. 530 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4121 

[Report No. 112–727] 

To provide for a program to provide Federal contracts to early stage small 

businesses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 1, 2012 

Mr. SCHRADER (for himself, Ms. HAHN, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CHU, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. PETERS, and Mr. RICHMOND) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

DECEMBER 21, 2012 

Additional sponsor: Ms. CLARKE of New York 

DECEMBER 21, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 1, 2012] 


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A BILL 

To provide for a program to provide Federal contracts to 

early stage small businesses, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Early Stage Small Busi5 ness Contracting Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IN GENERAL. 

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

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 46. PROGRAM TO PROVIDE FEDERAL CONTRACTS TO 

10 EARLY STAGE SMALL BUSINESSES. 

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es12 tablish and carry out a program in accordance with the 

13 requirements of this section to provide improved access to 

14 Federal contract opportunities for early stage small busi15 ness concerns. 

16 ‘‘(b) PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection 

18 (a), the Administrator, in consultation with other 

19 Federal agencies, shall identify procurement contracts 

20 of Federal agencies for award under the program. 

21 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT AWARDS.—Under the program 

22 established pursuant to this section, the award of a 

23 procurement contract of a Federal agency identified 

24 by the Administrator pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 

25 be made by the agency to an eligible program particiVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:10 Dec 21, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H4121.RH H4121

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1 pant selected, and determined to be responsible, by the 

2 agency. 

3 ‘‘(3) COMPETITION.— 

4 ‘‘(A) SOLE SOURCE.—A contracting officer 

5 may award a sole source contract under this 

6 program if such concern is determined to be a 

7 responsible contractor with respect to perform8 ance of such contract opportunity and the con9 tracting officer does not have a reasonable expec10 tation that 2 or more early stage small business 

11 concerns will submit offers for the contracting 

12 opportunity and in the estimation of the con13 tracting officer, the contract award can be made 

14 at a fair and reasonable price. 

15 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTED COMPETITION.—A con16 tracting officer may award contracts on the basis 

17 of competition restricted to early stage small 

18 business concerns if the contracting officer has a 

19 reasonable expectation that not less than 2 early 

20 stage small business concerns will submit offers 

21 and that the award can be made at a fair mar22 ket price. 

23 ‘‘(4) CONTRACT VALUE.—Contracts shall be 

24 awarded under this program if its value is greater 


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1 than $3,000 and less than half the upper threshold of 

2 section 15(j)(1) of the Small Business Act. 

3 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY.—Only an early stage small business 

4 concern shall be eligible to compete for a contract to be 

5 awarded under the program. The Administrator shall cer6 tify that a small business concern is an early stage small 

7 business concern, or the Administrator shall approve a Fed8 eral agency, a State government, or a national certifying 

9 entity to certify that the business meets the eligibility cri10 teria of an early stage small business concern. 

11 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Administrator 

12 shall provide early stage small business concerns with tech13 nical assistance and counseling with regard to— 

14 ‘‘(1) applying for and competing for Federal 

15 contracts; and 

16 ‘‘(2) fulfilling the administrative responsibilities 

17 associated with the performance of a Federal contract. 

18 ‘‘(e) ATTAINMENT OF CONTRACT GOALS.—All contract 

19 awards made under the program shall be counted toward 

20 the attainment of the goals specified in section 15(g) of the 

21 Small Business Act. 

22 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) issue proposed regulations to carry out this 

24 section not later than 180 days after the date of en25 actment of this Act; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) issue final regulations to carry out this sec2 tion not later than 270 days after the date of enact3 ment of this Act. 

4 ‘‘(g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than April 30, 

5 2015, the Administrator shall transmit to the Congress a 

6 report on the performance of the program. 

7 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

8 following definitions shall apply: 

9 ‘‘(1) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means a 

10 program established pursuant to subsection (a). 

11 ‘‘(2) EARLY STAGE SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.— 

12 The term ‘early stage small business concern’ means 

13 a small business concern that— 

14 ‘‘(A) has not more than 15 employees; and 

15 ‘‘(B) has average annual receipts that total 

16 not more than $1,000,000, except if the concern 

17 is in an industry with an average annual rev18 enue standard that is less than $1,000,000, as 

19 defined by the North American Industry Classi20 fication System.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SIMILAR PROGRAM. 

22 Section 304 of the Small Business Administration Re23 authorization and Amendments Act of 1994 (15 U.S.C. 644 

24 note) is repealed. 


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Union Calendar No. 530 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4121 

[Report No. 112–727] 

A BILL 

To provide for a program to provide Federal conother purposes. tracts to early stage small businesses, and for 

DECEMBER 21, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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