I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3082 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require that 9 percent of procurement contracts entered into by the Department of Veterans Affairs 

be awarded to small business concerns owned by veterans, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2005 

Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Ms. HERSETH, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BURTON of 

Indiana, and Mr. EVERETT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require that 

9 percent of procurement contracts entered into by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs be awarded to small 

business concerns owned 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 ‘‘Veteran-Owned Small 

5 Business Promotion Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REQUIRE2 MENT FOR PARTICIPATION BY SMALL BUSI3 NESSES OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY VET4 ERANS IN 9 PERCENT OF PROCUREMENT 

5 CONTRACTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 81 of 

7 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 8127. Contract requirement for small business con10 cerns owned and controlled by veterans 

11 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—(1) The Department shall 

12 award not less than 9 percent of the total value of all 

13 prime contract and subcontract awards by the Department 

14 for each fiscal year to small business concerns owned and 

15 controlled by veterans. 

16 ‘‘(2) At least one-third of the total value of all awards 

17 made under paragraph (1) shall be awarded to small busi18 ness concerns owned and controlled by veterans with serv19 ice-connected disabilities. 

20 ‘‘(b) SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.—For purposes of 

21 meeting the requirement of subsection (a), and in accord22 ance with this section, a contracting officer of the Depart23 ment shall award a sole source contract to any small busi24 ness concern owned and controlled by veterans if— 

25 ‘‘(1) such concern is determined to be a respon26 sible contractor with respect to performance of such 
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1 contract opportunity and the contracting officer does 

2 not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more 

3 small business concerns owned and controlled by vet4 erans will submit offers for the contracting oppor5 tunity; 

6 ‘‘(2) the anticipated award price of the contract 

7 (including options) will not exceed $5,000,000; and 

8 ‘‘(3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 

9 the contract award can be made at a fair and rea10 sonable price that offers best value to the United 

11 States. 

12 ‘‘(c) USE OF RESTRICTED COMPETITION.—For pur13 poses of meeting the requirements of subsection (a), and 

14 in accordance with this section, a contracting officer of 

15 the Department shall award contracts on the basis of com16 petition restricted to small business concerns owned and 

17 controlled by veterans if the contracting officer has a rea18 sonable expectation that 2 or more small business con19 cerns owned and controlled by veterans will submit offers 

20 and that the award can be made at a fair and reasonable 

21 price that offers best value to the United States. 

22 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY OF SMALL BUSINESS CON23 CERNS.—To be eligible to be awarded a contract under 

24 this section, a small business concern shall be listed in 
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1 the database of veteran-owned businesses maintained by 

2 the Secretary under subsection (e). 

3 ‘‘(e) DATABASE OF VETERAN-OWNED BUSI4 NESSES.—(1) Subject to the succeeding provisions of this 

5 subsection, the Secretary shall maintain a database of 

6 small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans. 

7 ‘‘(2) Information maintained in the database shall be 

8 submitted on a voluntary basis by such veterans. 

9 ‘‘(3) In maintaining the database, the Secretary shall 

10 carry out only two verification functions, as follows: 

11 ‘‘(A) Verification that each person listed in the 

12 database is a veteran. 

13 ‘‘(B) In the case of a veteran who indicates a 

14 service-connected disability, verification of the serv15 ice-disabled status of such veteran. 

16 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall make the database available 

17 to all Federal departments and agencies. 

18 ‘‘(5) If the Secretary determines that the public dis19 semination of certain types of information maintained in 

20 the database is inappropriate, the Secretary shall take 

21 such steps as are necessary to maintain such types of in22 formation in a secure and confidential manner. 

23 ‘‘(f) ENFORCEMENT PENALTIES FOR MISREPRESEN24 TATION.—Any small business concern that is determined 

25 by the Secretary to have misrepresented the status of that 
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1 concern as a small business concern owned and controlled 

2 by veterans for purposes of this subsection, shall be sub3 ject to— 

4 ‘‘(1) section 1001 of title 18; and 

5 ‘‘(2) sections 3729 through 3733 of title 31. 

6 ‘‘(g) TREATMENT OF BUSINESSES AFTER DEATH OF

7 VETERAN-OWNER.—(1) If the death of a veteran causes 

8 a small business concern to be less than 51 percent owned 

9 by one or more veterans, the surviving spouse of such vet10 eran who inherits ownership rights in such small business 

11 concern shall be treated as if the surviving spouse were 

12 that veteran for the purpose of maintaining the status of 

13 the small business concern as a small business concern 

14 owned and controlled by veterans for the period described 

15 in paragraph (2). 

16 ‘‘(2) The period referred to in paragraph (1) is the 

17 period beginning on the date on which the veteran dies 

18 and ending on the earliest of the following dates: 

19 ‘‘(A) The date on which the surviving spouse 

20 remarries. 

21 ‘‘(B) The date on which the surviving spouse 

22 gives up an ownership interest in the small business 

23 concern. 

24 ‘‘(C) The date that is ten years after the date 

25 of the veteran’s death. 
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1 ‘‘(h) PRIORITY FOR CONTRACTING PREFERENCES.— 

2 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY AMONG VETERAN-OWNED SMALL

3 BUSINESSES.—Preferences for awarding prime con4 tract and subcontract awards under this section 

5 shall be applied in the following order of priority: 

6 ‘‘(A) Small business concerns owned and 

7 controlled by veterans with service-connected 

8 disabilities. 

9 ‘‘(B) Small business concerns owned and 

10 controlled by veterans. 

11 ‘‘(2) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER CONTRACTING

12 PREFERENCES.—A procurement may not be made 

13 from any source on the basis of a preference pro14 vided under any other provision of law if the pro15 curement would otherwise be made from a different 

16 source under this section. 

17 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘small business concern’ has the 

19 same meaning as under section 3 of the Small Busi20 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘small business concern owned 

22 and controlled by veterans’ means a small business 

23 concern— 

24 ‘‘(A) not less than 51 percent of which is 

25 owned by one or more veterans or, in the case 
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1 of any publicly owned business, not less than 51 

2 percent of the stock of which is owned by one 

3 or more veterans; 

4 ‘‘(B) the management and daily business 

5 operations of which are controlled by one or 

6 more veterans or, in the case of a veteran with 

7 service-connected total disability that is perma8 nent in nature, the spouse of such veteran; and 

9 ‘‘(C) that is listed in the database of vet10 eran-owned businesses maintained by the Sec11 retary under subsection (e).’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

13 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

14 after the item relating to section 8126 the following new 

15 item: 

‘‘8127. Contract requirement for small business concerns owned and controlled 

by veterans.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CON17 TRACTING PRIORITY FOR VETERAN-OWNED 

18 SMALL BUSINESSES. 

19 (a) PRIORITY FOR VETERAN-OWNED SMALL BUSI20 NESSES.—Subchapter II of chapter 81 of title 38, United 

21 States Code, as amended by section 1, is further amended 

22 by adding at the end the following new section: 
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1 ‘‘§ 8128. Contracting priority for small business con2 cerns owned and controlled by veterans. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In procuring goods and services 

4 pursuant to a contracting preference under this title or 

5 any other provision of law, the Secretary shall give priority 

6 to a small business concern owned and controlled by vet7 erans, if such business concern also meets the require8 ments of that contracting preference. 

9 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—The term ‘small business concern 

10 owned and controlled by veterans’ has the meaning given 

11 that term under section 8127 of this title.’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

13 at the beginning of such chapter, as amended by section 

14 1, is further amended by inserting after the item relating 

15 to section 8127 the following new item: 

‘‘8128. Contracting priority for small business concerns owned and controlled 

by veterans.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by this 

18 Act shall apply to contracts awarded during fiscal years 

19 beginning after September 30, 2006. 

20 (b) TRANSITION RULE.—In carrying out section 

21 8127 of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 

22 1(a), with respect to contracts awarded during fiscal year 

23 2007, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall treat the ref-
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1 erence to ‘‘9 percent’’ in subsection (a)(1) of such section 

2 as if it were a reference to ‘‘6 percent’’. 

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