I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1873 

To reauthorize the programs and activities of the Small Business 

Administration relating to procurement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 17, 2007 

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, and Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 

Business 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the programs and activities of the Small 

Business Administration relating to procurement, 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 Fairness in Contracting Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—CONTRACT BUNDLING 

Sec. 101. Definitions of bundling of contract requirements and related terms. 


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Sec. 102. Justification. 

Sec. 103. Appeals. 

Sec. 104. Third-party review. 

TITLE II—INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS 

CONTRACTS AND SUBCONTRACTS 

Sec. 201. Small business goal. 

Sec. 202. Include overseas contracts in small business goal. 

Sec. 203. Annual goal negotiation. 

Sec. 204. Goal reasonableness. 

Sec. 205. Usage of small companies in goal achievement. 

Sec. 206. Making small businesses the first choice. 

Sec. 207. Subcontracting goals. 

Sec. 208. Subcontracting enforcement. 

Sec. 209. National database. 

Sec. 210. Review of subcontracting plans. 

TITLE III—PROTECTION OF TAXPAYERS FROM FRAUD 

Sec. 301. Small business size protest notification. 

Sec. 302. Review of national registry. 

Sec. 303. Recertification of compliance with size standards and registration 

with Central Contractor Registry. 

TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 

Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations. 

1 TITLE I—CONTRACT BUNDLING 

2 SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT RE3 QUIREMENTS AND RELATED TERMS. 

4 Section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632) 

5 is amended by amending subsection (o) to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(o) DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT RE7 QUIREMENTS AND RELATED TERMS.—For purposes of 

8 this Act: 

9 ‘‘(1) BUNDLED CONTRACT.—The term ‘bundled 

10 contract’ means a contract or order that is entered 

11 into to meet requirements that are consolidated in a 

12 bundling of contract requirements without regard to 

13 its designation by the procuring agency or whether 


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1 a study of the effects of the solicitation on civilian 

2 or military personnel has been made. 

3 ‘‘(2) BUNDLING OF CONTRACT REQUIRE4 MENTS.—The term ‘bundling of contract require5 ments’ means the use of any bundling methodology 

6 to satisfy 2 or more requirements for new or existing 

7 goods or services, including any services for con8 struction, that is likely to be unsuitable for award to 

9 a small business concern due to— 

10 ‘‘(A) the diversity, size, or specialized na11 ture of the elements of the performance speci12 fied; 

13 ‘‘(B) the aggregate dollar value of the an14 ticipated award; 

15 ‘‘(C) the geographical dispersion of the 

16 contract or order performance sites; or 

17 ‘‘(D) any combination of the factors de18 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C). 

19 ‘‘(3) BUNDLING METHODOLOGY.—The term 

20 ‘bundling methodology’ means— 

21 ‘‘(A) a solicitation to obtain offers for a 

22 single contract or order, or a multiple award 

23 contract or order; 

24 ‘‘(B) a solicitation of offers for the 

25 issuance of a task or a delivery order under an 


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1 existing single or multiple award contract or 

2 order; or 

3 ‘‘(C) the creation of any new procurement 

4 requirement that permits a consolidation of 

5 contract or order requirements’’. 

6 SEC. 102. JUSTIFICATION. 

7 Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

8 644(a)) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘is in a quantity or estimated 

10 dollar value the magnitude of which renders small 

11 business prime contract participation unlikely’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘would now be combined with other re13 quirements for goods and services’’; 

14 (2) by striking ‘‘(2) why delivery schedules’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘(2) the names, addresses and size of 

16 the incumbent contract holders; (3) a description of 

17 the industries that might be interested in bidding on 

18 the contract requirements; (4) the number of small 

19 businesses listed in the industry categories that 

20 could be excluded from future bidding if the contract 

21 is combined or packaged; (5) why delivery sched22 ules’’; 

23 (3) by striking ‘‘(3) why the proposed acquisi24 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘(6) why the proposed acquisi25 tion’’; 


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1 (4) by striking ‘‘(4) why construction’’ and in2 serting ‘‘(7) why construction’’; 

3 (5) by striking ‘‘(5) why the agency’’ and in4 serting ‘‘(8) why the agency’’; and 

5 (6) by inserting after ‘‘prime contracting oppor6 tunities.’’ the following: ‘‘If no notification of the 

7 procurement and accompanying statement is re8 ceived, but the Administrator determines that there 

9 is cause to believe the contract combines require10 ments or discrete construction projects or includes 

11 unjustified bundling, then the Administrator can de12 mand that such a statement of work goods or serv13 ices be completed by the procurement activity and 

14 sent to the Procurement Center Representative and 

15 the solicitation process postponed for at least 10 

16 days to allow the Administrator to review the state17 ment and make recommendations as described in 

18 this section before the procurement is continued.’’ 

19 SEC. 103. APPEALS. 

20 Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

21 644(a)) is amended— 

22 (1) by striking ‘‘If a proposed procurement in23 cludes in its statement’’ and inserting ‘‘If a proposed 

24 procurement would negatively affect one or more 


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1 small business concerns, or if a proposed procure2 ment includes in its statement’’; and 

3 (2) by inserting before ‘‘Whenever the Adminis4 trator and the contracting procurement agency fail 

5 to agree,’’ the following: ‘‘If a small business con6 cern would be adversely affected, directly or indi7 rectly, by the procurement as proposed, and that 

8 small business concern or a trade association on be9 half of that small business concern so requests, the 

10 Administrator may, in the Administrator’s discre11 tion, take action to further the interests of that 

12 small business concern.’’. 

13 SEC. 104. THIRD-PARTY REVIEW. 

14 Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

15 644(a)) is amended by striking the sentence beginning 

16 ‘‘Whenever the Administrator and the contracting pro17 curement agency fail to agree,’’ and inserting the fol18 lowing: ‘‘Whenever the Administrator and the contracting 

19 procurement agency fail to agree, the Administrator shall 

20 submit the matter to the Administrator of the Office of 

21 Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Manage22 ment and Budget, who shall render his decision regarding 

23 the matter not later than 10 days after receiving the mat24 ter.’’. 


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1 TITLE II—INCREASING THE 

2 NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS 

3 CONTRACTS AND SUB4 CONTRACTS 

5 SEC. 201. SMALL BUSINESS GOAL. 

6 Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

7 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘23 percent’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘30 percent’’. 

9 SEC. 202. INCLUDE OVERSEAS CONTRACTS IN SMALL BUSI10 NESS GOAL. 

11 Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(3) The procurement goals required by this sub14 section apply to all procurement contracts, without regard 

15 to whether the contract is for work within or outside the 

16 United States.’’. 

17 SEC. 203. ANNUAL GOAL NEGOTIATION. 

18 Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

19 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘The President 

20 shall annually establish Government-wide goals for pro21 curement contracts’’ and inserting ‘‘The President shall 

22 before the close of each fiscal year establish new Govern23 ment-wide procurement goals for the following fiscal year 

24 for procurement contracts’’. 


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1 SEC. 204. GOAL REASONABLENESS. 

2 Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘Notwith4 standing the Government-wide goal, each agency shall 

5 have an annual goal’’ and inserting ‘‘Each agency shall 

6 have an annual goal, not lower than the Government-wide 

7 goal,’’. 

8 SEC. 205. USAGE OF SMALL COMPANIES IN GOAL ACHIEVE9 MENT. 

10 Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

11 644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection and subsection 

13 (h), a small business concern shall be counted toward one 

14 additional category goal only, even if that small business 

15 concern otherwise qualifies under more than one category 

16 goal. In this paragraph, the term ‘category goal’ means 

17 a goal described in paragraph (2).’’. 

18 SEC. 206. MAKING SMALL BUSINESSES THE FIRST CHOICE. 

19 Section 15(j) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

20 644(j)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘or order’’ after ‘‘Each 

23 contract’’; and 

24 (B) by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ and insert 

25 ‘‘the Simplified Acquisition Threshold’’; and 


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1 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘subsection 

2 (a) of section 8’’ and inserting ‘‘section 8, 31, or 

3 36’’. 

4 SEC. 207. SUBCONTRACTING GOALS. 

5 Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

6 637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following:. 

7 ‘‘(12) In carrying out this subsection, the Adminis8 trator shall require each prime contractor to report small 

9 business subcontract usage at all tiers based on the per10 centage of the total dollar amount of the contract award.’’. 

11 SEC. 208. SUBCONTRACTING ENFORCEMENT. 

12 Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(13) In carrying out this subsection, the Adminis15 trator shall develop and maintain a password-protected 

16 database that will enable the Administration to assist 

17 small businesses in marketing to large corporations that 

18 have not achieved their small business goals.’’. 

19 SEC. 209. NATIONAL DATABASE. 

20 The Administrator of the Small Business Administra21 tion shall ensure that whenever a small business enters 

22 its information in the Central Contractor Registry, or any 

23 successor to that registry, the Administrator contacts that 

24 business within 30 days regarding the likelihood of Fed25 eral contracting opportunities. The Administrator shall 


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1 ensure that each small business that so registers is, for 

2 each industry code entered by that small business, pro3 vided with the total dollar value of government contract 

4 awards to small businesses for that industry. 

5 SEC. 210. REVIEW OF SUBCONTRACTING PLANS. 

6 Not later than 120 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this section, the Administrator of the Small Busi8 ness Administration shall, after an opportunity for notice 

9 and comment, prescribe regulations to govern the Admin10 istrator’s review of subcontracting plans, including stand11 ards for determining good faith effort in compliance with 

12 the subcontracting plans. 

13 TITLE III—PROTECTION OF 

14 TAXPAYERS FROM FRAUD 

15 SEC. 301. SMALL BUSINESS SIZE PROTEST NOTIFICATION. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Small 

17 Business Administration shall work with appropriate Fed18 eral agencies to ensure that whenever a business fails to 

19 prevail in a protest over size, a notification shall be placed 

20 adjacent to that concern’s listing in the Central Con21 tractor Registry (or any successor to that registry). 

22 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL CERTIFICATION.—The 

23 Administrator shall, in making any report of small busi24 ness goal accomplishments, qualify the accomplishments 

25 as ‘‘estimated’’, until the Administrator obtains from the 


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1 Comptroller General the Comptroller General’s certifi2 cation that there are no data integrity issues with respect 

3 to the national repository of contract award information 

4 known as Federal Procurement Data System-Next Gen5 eration (FPDS–NG), or any successor to that repository. 

6 (c) AWARDS TO LARGE BUSINESSES.—The Inspector 

7 General of the Small Business Administration shall, on an 

8 annual basis, submit to Congress a report on the number 

9 and dollar value of contract awards that were coded as 

10 awards to small business concerns but in fact were made 

11 to businesses that did not qualify as small business con12 cerns. 

13 SEC. 302. REVIEW OF NATIONAL REGISTRY. 

14 The Administrator of the Small Business Administra15 tion shall ensure, on a biannual basis, that an independent 

16 audit is performed of the Central Contractor Registry, or 

17 any successor to that registry, and that the Dynamic 

18 Small Business Search portion of the registry, or any suc19 cessor to that portion of the registry, is purged of any 

20 businesses that are not in fact small businesses. If a busi21 ness that has been so purged attempts, while not in fact 

22 a small business, to re-register, that business is subject 

23 to debarment as a Federal contractor and is further sub24 ject to penalties outlined in section 16 of the Small Busi25 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 645). 


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1 SEC. 303. RECERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH SIZE 

2 STANDARDS AND REGISTRATION WITH CEN3 TRAL CONTRACTOR REGISTRY. 

4 Section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

5 632(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(5) RECERTIFICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a business concern is 

8 awarded a contract because of a standard by which 

9 it is determined to be a small business concern, and 

10 the business concern is close to exceeding that 

11 standard at the time the award is made, then the 

12 business concern must, annually after the date of 

13 the award, recertify to the agency awarding the con14 tract whether it meets that standard. 

15 ‘‘(B) ‘CLOSE TO EXCEEDING’.—For purposes of 

16 subparagraph (A), a business concern is close to ex17 ceeding— 

18 ‘‘(i) a number-of-employees standard if the 

19 number of employees of the business concern is 

20 95 percent or more of the maximum number of 

21 employees allowed under the standard; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) a dollar-volume-of-business standard 

23 if the dollar volume of business is 80 percent or 

24 more of the maximum dollar volume allowed 

25 under the standard. 


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1 ‘‘(6) REGISTRY.—For a business concern to be 

2 awarded a contract because of a standard by which it is 

3 determined to be a small business concern, the business 

4 concern must, annually after the end of the fiscal year 

5 used by the business concern, update its listing in the Cen6 tral Contractor Registry.’’. 

7 TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF 

8 APPROPRIATIONS 

9 SEC. 401. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

11 as may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amend12 ments made by this Act. 

Æ 


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