I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7401 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish a goal for the Department 

of Defense for participation by certain veteran-owned small businesses 

in procurement contracts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2024 

Mr. WALTZ (for himself and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to establish a goal 

for the Department of Defense for participation by certain veteran-owned small businesses in procurement contracts, 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 ‘‘Contract Our Veterans 

5 Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE GOALS FOR PARTICIPA2 TION BY CERTAIN VETERAN-OWNED SMALL 

3 BUSINESSES IN PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS. 

4 Chapter 287 of part V of title 10, United States 

5 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 section: 

7 ‘‘§ 3906. Small business concerns owned and con8 trolled by veterans: contracting goals and 

9 preferences 

10 ‘‘(a) CONTRACTING GOALS.—In order to increase 

11 contracting opportunities for small business concerns 

12 owned and controlled by veterans and small business con13 cerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, 

14 the Secretary shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) establish a goal for each fiscal year for 

16 participation in Department contracts (including 

17 subcontracts) by small business concerns owned and 

18 controlled by veterans who are not service-disabled 

19 veterans that is not less than the governmentwide 

20 goal for that fiscal year for participation by small 

21 business concerns owned and controlled by service22 disabled veterans under section 15(g)(1) of the 

23 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)); and 

24 ‘‘(2) establish a goal for each fiscal year for 

25 participation in Department contracts (including 

26 subcontracts) by small business concerns owned and 


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1 controlled by veterans with service-connected disabil2 ities that is not less than the governmentwide goal 

3 for that fiscal year for participation by small busi4 ness concerns owned and controlled by service-dis5 abled veterans under section 15(g)(1) of the Small 

6 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)). 

7 ‘‘(b) SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS FOR CONTRACTS

8 ABOVE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD.—For pur9 poses of meeting the goals under subsection (a) and in 

10 accordance with this section, a contracting officer may 

11 award a contract to a small business concern owned and 

12 controlled by veterans or small business concerns owned 

13 and controlled by service-disabled veterans using proce14 dures other than competitive procedures if— 

15 ‘‘(1) such concern is determined to be a respon16 sible source with respect to performance of such con17 tract opportunity; 

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

19 (including options) will not exceed the amounts es20 tablished in section 36(c)(2) of the Small Business 

21 Act (15 U.S.C. 657f(c)(2)); and 

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

23 the contract award can be made at a fair and rea24 sonable price that offers best value to the United 

25 States. 


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1 ‘‘(c) USE OF RESTRICTED COMPETITION.—Except as 

2 provided in subsections (b) and (c), for purposes of meet3 ing the goals under subsection (a) and in accordance with 

4 this section, a contracting officer shall award contracts on 

5 the basis of competition restricted to small business con6 cerns owned and controlled by veterans or small business 

7 concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans 

8 if the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that 

9 two or more small business concerns owned and controlled 

10 by veterans or small business concerns owned and con11 trolled by service-disabled veterans (as applicable) will 

12 submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair 

13 and reasonable price that offers best value to the United 

14 States. 

15 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY OF SMALL BUSINESS CON16 CERNS.—A small business concern may be awarded a con17 tract under this section only if the small business concern 

18 and the veteran owner of the small business concern are 

19 listed in the database described in section 36(f)(1) of the 

20 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657f(f)(1)). 

21 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY FOR CONTRACTING PREFERENCES.— 

22 Preferences for awarding contracts to small business con23 cerns shall be applied in the following order of priority: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Contracts awarded pursuant to subsection 

2 (b) or (c) to small business concerns owned and con3 trolled by service-disabled veterans. 

4 ‘‘(2) Contracts awarded pursuant to subsection 

5 (b) or (c) to small business concerns owned and con6 trolled by veterans that are not covered by para7 graph (1). 

8 ‘‘(3) Contracts awarded pursuant to— 

9 ‘‘(A) section 8(a) of the Small Business 

10 Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)); or 

11 ‘‘(B) section 31 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 657a). 

13 ‘‘(4) Contracts awarded pursuant to any other 

14 contracting preference for small business concerns. 

15 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

17 meaning given under section 3 of the Small Business 

18 Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

19 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘service-disabled veteran’, ‘small 

20 business concern owned and controlled by veterans’, 

21 and ‘small business concern owned and controlled by 

22 service-disabled veterans’ have the meanings given, 

23 respectively, under section 3(q) of the Small Busi24 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)).’’. 

Æ 


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