I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4897

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a program to provide Federal

contracting assistance to small business concerns owned and controlled

by women.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 19, 2000

Ms. VELA ́

ZQUEZ (for herself, Mrs. KELLY, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr.

DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr.

HINOJOSA, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. MOORE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. UDALL

of New Mexico, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, and Ms. BERKLEY)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Small Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to establish a program

to provide Federal contracting assistance to small business concerns owned and controlled by women.

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 ‘‘Equity in Contracting

5 for Women Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN’S SMALL

2 BUSINESS CONCERNS.

3 Section 8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637)

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub5 section:

6 ‘‘(m) PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN’S

7 SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol9 lowing definitions apply:

10 ‘‘(A) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—The term

11 ‘contracting officer’ has the meaning given such

12 term in section 27(f)(5) of the Office of Federal

13 Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423(f)(5)).

14 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED

15 AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN.—The term

16 ‘small business concern owned and controlled by

17 women’ means any small business concern—

18 ‘‘(i) that is not less than 51 percent

19 owned by 1 or more women who are eco20 nomically disadvantaged; and

21 ‘‘(ii) the management and daily busi22 ness operations of which are controlled by

23 1 or more women.

24 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO SET ASIDE CONTRACTS.—

25 Notwithstanding any other provision of law and in

26 accordance with this subsection, a contracting officer
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1 may set aside to be awarded only to a small business

2 concern owned and controlled by women any con3 tract for the procurement of goods or services by the

4 Federal Government, if—

5 ‘‘(A) the concern is determined to be a re6 sponsible contractor with respect to the per7 formance of such contract;

8 ‘‘(B) the contracting officer has a reason9 able expectation that 2 or more small business

10 concerns owned and controlled by women will

11 submit offers for the contract;

12 ‘‘(C) the contract is for the procurement of

13 goods or services with respect to an industry

14 identified by the Administrator pursuant to

15 paragraph (3);

16 ‘‘(D) the anticipated award price of the

17 contract (including options) does not exceed—

18 ‘‘(i) $5,000,000, in the case of a con19 tract assigned a standard industrial classi20 fication code for manufacturing; or

21 ‘‘(ii) $3,000,000, in the case of all

22 other contracts;

23 ‘‘(E) in the estimation of the contracting

24 officer, the contract award can be made at a

25 fair and reasonable price; and
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1 ‘‘(F) the concern—

2 ‘‘(i) is certified as a small business

3 concern owned and controlled by women by

4 a Federal agency or by a State or local

5 government; or

6 ‘‘(ii) certifies to the contracting officer

7 that it is a small business concern owned

8 and controlled by women and provides ade9 quate documentation, in accordance with

10 standards established by the Administra11 tion, to support such certification.

12 ‘‘(3) IDENTIFICATION OF INDUSTRIES.—The

13 Administrator shall conduct a study to identify in14 dustries in which small business concerns owned and

15 controlled by women are underrepresented with re16 spect to Federal procurement contracting.

17 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT; PENALTIES.—

18 ‘‘(A) VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—In

19 carrying out this subsection, the Administrator

20 shall establish procedures relating to—

21 ‘‘(i) the filing, investigation, and dis22 position by the Administration of any chal23 lenge to the eligibility of a small business

24 concern to receive assistance under this

25 subsection (including a challenge, filed by
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1 an interested party, relating to the veracity

2 of a certification made or information pro3 vided to the Administration by a small

4 business concern under paragraph (2)(F));

5 and

6 ‘‘(ii) verification by the Administrator

7 of the accuracy of any certification made

8 or information provided to the Administra9 tion by a small business concern under

10 paragraph (2)(F).

11 ‘‘(B) EXAMINATIONS.—The procedures es12 tablished under subparagraph (A) may provide

13 for program examinations (including random

14 program examinations) by the Administrator of

15 any small business concern making a certifi16 cation or providing information to the Adminis17 trator under paragraph (2)(F).

18 ‘‘(C) PROVISION OF DATA.—Upon the re19 quest of the Administrator, the Secretary of

20 Labor, the Secretary of Housing and Urban

21 Development, and the Secretary of the Interior

22 (or the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs),

23 shall promptly provide to the Administrator

24 such information as the Administrator deter-
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1 mines to be necessary to carry out this sub2 section.

3 ‘‘(D) PENALTIES.—In addition to the pen4 alties described in section 16(d), any small busi5 ness concern that is determined by the Admin6 istrator to have misrepresented the status of

7 that concern as a small business concern owned

8 and controlled by women for purposes of this

9 subsection, shall be subject to—

10 ‘‘(i) section 1001 of title 18, United

11 States Code; and

12 ‘‘(ii) sections 3729 through 3733 of

13 title 31, United States Code.’’.

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