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Union Calendar No. 530

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4897

[Report No. 106–879]

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

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Additional sponsors: Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Ms. CARSON, Mr. WYNN,

Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. GILMAN, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. KILPATRICK, Ms.

MCKINNEY, Ms. SLAUGHTER, and Ms. KAPTUR

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

and ordered to be printed

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.
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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’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN’S SMALL

7 BUSINESS CONCERNS.

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

9 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub10 section:

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

12 SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—

13 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol14 lowing definitions apply:

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

16 ‘contracting officer’ has the meaning given such

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

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

19 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED

20 AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN.—The term

21 ‘small business concern owned and controlled by

22 women’ means any small business concern—

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

24 owned by 1 or more women who are eco25 nomically disadvantaged; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) the management and daily busi2 ness operations of which are controlled by

3 1 or more women.

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

5 Notwithstanding any other provision of law and in

6 accordance with this subsection, a contracting officer

7 may set aside to be awarded only to a small business

8 concern owned and controlled by women any con9 tract for the procurement of goods or services by the

10 Federal Government, if—

11 ‘‘(A) the concern is determined to be a re12 sponsible contractor with respect to the per13 formance of such contract;

14 ‘‘(B) the contracting officer has a reason15 able expectation that 2 or more small business

16 concerns owned and controlled by women will

17 submit offers for the contract;

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

19 goods or services with respect to an industry

20 identified by the Administrator pursuant to

21 paragraph (3);

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

23 contract (including options) does not exceed—
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1 ‘‘(i) $5,000,000, in the case of a con2 tract assigned a standard industrial classi3 fication code for manufacturing; or

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

5 other contracts;

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

7 officer, the contract award can be made at a

8 fair and reasonable price; and

9 ‘‘(F) the concern—

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

11 concern owned and controlled by women by

12 a Federal agency or by a State or local

13 government; or

14 ‘‘(ii) certifies to the contracting officer

15 that it is a small business concern owned

16 and controlled by women and provides ade17 quate documentation, in accordance with

18 standards established by the Administra19 tion, to support such certification.

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

21 Administrator shall conduct a study to identify in22 dustries in which small business concerns owned and

23 controlled by women are underrepresented with re24 spect to Federal procurement contracting.

25 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT; PENALTIES.—
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1 ‘‘(A) VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—In

2 carrying out this subsection, the Administrator

3 shall establish procedures relating to—

4 ‘‘(i) the filing, investigation, and dis5 position by the Administration of any chal6 lenge to the eligibility of a small business

7 concern to receive assistance under this

8 subsection (including a challenge, filed by

9 an interested party, relating to the veracity

10 of a certification made or information pro11 vided to the Administration by a small

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

13 and

14 ‘‘(ii) verification by the Administrator

15 of the accuracy of any certification made

16 or information provided to the Administra17 tion by a small business concern under

18 paragraph (2)(F).

19 ‘‘(B) EXAMINATIONS.—The procedures es20 tablished under subparagraph (A) may provide

21 for program examinations (including random

22 program examinations) by the Administrator of

23 any small business concern making a certifi24 cation or providing information to the Adminis25 trator under paragraph (2)(F).
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1 ‘‘(C) PROVISION OF DATA.—Upon the re2 quest of the Administrator, the Secretary of

3 Labor, the Secretary of Housing and Urban

4 Development, and the Secretary of the Interior

5 (or the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs),

6 shall promptly provide to the Administrator

7 such information as the Administrator deter8 mines to be necessary to carry out this sub9 section.

10 ‘‘(D) PENALTIES.—In addition to the pen11 alties described in section 16(d), any small busi12 ness concern that is determined by the Admin13 istrator to have misrepresented the status of

14 that concern as a small business concern owned

15 and controlled by women for purposes of this

16 subsection, shall be subject to—

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

18 States Code; and

19 ‘‘(ii) sections 3729 through 3733 of

20 title 31, United States Code.’’.

Union Calendar No. 530

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4897

[Report No. 106–879]

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.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2000

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed