I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 10563 

To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 31, 2024 

Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and in addition to the 

Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, 

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 ‘‘Ensuring Efficiency 

5 and Fairness in Federal Subcontracting Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

5 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Ac7 countability of the House of Representatives. 

8 (2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

9 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

11 SEC. 3. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON SMALL BUSI12 NESS UTILIZATION IN FEDERAL CON13 TRACTING. 

14 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

16 States shall submit to the appropriate congressional com17 mittees the results of a study on how small business utili18 zation by prime contractors can be better monitored on 

19 the largest and longest Federal contracts, including In20 definite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts 

21 and Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), 

22 with any further relevant contract types to be determined 

23 by the Comptroller General. 


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1 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO NOTIFY SUBCONTRACTORS OF 

2 CONTRACT STATUS. 

3 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact4 ment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

5 Council shall revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation— 

6 (1) to require prime contractors on Federal 

7 contracts to provide to a subcontractor named in a 

8 subcontracting plan of the prime contractor, within 

9 30 days of a request from such subcontractor, notifi10 cation of the status of the contract, including infor11 mation such as whether the prime contractor has re12 ceived any task orders or executed other work under 

13 the contract; 

14 (2) to provide a means by which a subcon15 tractor who has made a request described in para16 graph (1) and not received a response within 30 

17 days to report the request and delayed response to 

18 the contracting officer; 

19 (3) to require a contracting officer receiving a 

20 notification described in paragraph (2) to document 

21 the incident and consider the information in the 

22 small business subcontracting factor of the perform23 ance assessment for the prime contractor; and 

24 (4) to require offerors for a task or delivery 

25 order on a contract for which a subcontracting plan 

26 is required to provide information in the proposal 


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1 about how the offeror’s proposed small business uti2 lization for the task or delivery order aligns with the 

3 overall contract’s small business subcontracting plan. 

4 SEC. 5. STUDY ON STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT PROVI5 SIONS DESIGNED TO PROTECT SUBCONTRAC6 TORS. 

7 The Attorney General, in consultation with the Ad8 ministrator of General Services, the Administrator of the 

9 Small Business Administration, and the Administrator for 

10 Federal Procurement Policy, shall conduct a study on 

11 ways to strengthen enforcement mechanisms for compli12 ance with subcontracting plans in accordance with section 

13 19.705–7 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, includ14 ing exploring the need for an alternative complaint route 

15 for subcontractors that have experienced serious issues as 

16 a result of the prime contractor or a subcontractor at any 

17 tier under the contract failing to make a good faith effort, 

18 as outlined in such section and section 125.3 of title 13, 

19 Code of Federal Regulations. 


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1 SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON UTILIZATION 

2 OF CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE ASSESS3 MENT REPORTING SYSTEM (CPARS) DATA TO 

4 ASSESS RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRIME 

5 AND SUBCONTRACTORS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

8 of the United States shall submit to the appropriate con9 gressional committees the results of a study on how 

10 CPARS could be utilized as a means of gauging relation11 ships between prime and subcontractors. 

12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study required under sub13 section (a) shall focus on the following matters: 

14 (1) An examination of how adverse experiences 

15 of subcontractors are or are not translated into 

16 lower CPARS scores. 

17 (2) An assessment of whether lower CPARS 

18 scores impact the ability of prime contractors to se19 cure Federal contracts and options in source selec20 tion, including an examination of the weighting of 

21 the subcontracting score relative to other compo22 nents of the CPARS. 

23 (3) An assessment of whether the timing of 

24 scoring within contracts is such that it incentivizes 

25 the best possible small business utilization and inter26 action between prime and subcontractors. 


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1 SEC. 7. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO MEET SMALL BUSI2 NESS UTILIZATION GOALS. 

3 Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact4 ment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory 

5 Council shall revise the Federal Acquisition Regulation to 

6 allow agencies to incorporate into their incentive contracts 

7 with prime contractors a condition that— 

8 (1) if the rate of small business utilization for 

9 the contract is less than 50 percent of the utilization 

10 level prescribed in the subcontracting plan, the 

11 prime contractor shall not be eligible to receive a 

12 performance-based incentive fee with respect to the 

13 contract; and 

14 (2) if the rate of small business utilization at 

15 any stage of an incentive contract is less than 75 

16 percent of the utilization level prescribed for such 

17 stage in the subcontracting plan, the prime con18 tractor may receive a warning letter from the con19 tracting officer for the contract noting the shortfall 

20 and potential loss of incentive fees. 

21 SEC. 8. OUTREACH TO SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTORS. 

22 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Manage24 ment and Budget shall issue guidance to the heads of ex25 ecutive agencies on measures they should take to improve 

26 small business outreach and improve awareness of subconVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10563.IH H10563

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1 tracting opportunities, including webinars, online engage2 ments, and other innovative methods of outreach, and 

3 hosting at least two general outreach sessions per year for 

4 potential small business contractors and one outreach ses5 sion per year for each of the following groups: 

6 (1) Small business concerns owned and con7 trolled by veterans and small business concerns 

8 owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans 

9 (as those terms are defined in section 3(q) of the 

10 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q))). 

11 (2) Qualified HUBZone small business concerns 

12 (as defined in section 3(p) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 632(p))). 

14 (3) Socially and economically disadvantaged 

15 small business concerns (as defined in section 

16 8(a)(4)(A) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(4)(A))). 

17 (4) Small business concerns owned and con18 trolled by women (as defined in section 3(n) of such 

19 Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n))). 

20 SEC. 9. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ELECTRONIC SUBCON21 TRACTING REPORTING SYSTEM. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

24 General Services shall develop and include as part of the 

25 General Services Administration’s strategic information 


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1 resources management plan required under section 

2 3506(b)(2) of title 44, United States Code, a plan to mod3 ernize the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System 

4 (eSRS). 

5 (b) ELEMENTS.—The modernization plan required 

6 under subsection (a) shall include— 

7 (1) steps that the General Services Administra8 tion intends to make toward updating and modern9 izing eSRS; 

10 (2) an assessment of the capacity of the agency 

11 to operate and maintain an updated system; 

12 (3) the estimated cost and sources of funding 

13 required to execute this plan; and 

14 (4) a description of the additional resources and 

15 staffing that is necessary to carrying out the plan. 

16 (c) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 30 

17 days after the date on which the General Services Admin18 istration’s strategic information resources management 

19 plan is updated pursuant to subsection (a), the Adminis20 trator of General Services shall submit the plan to mod21 ernize eSRS described in such subsection. 

Æ 


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