I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2568 

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and transparency in 

contracting with small business concerns. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. GENE GREEN of 

Texas, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. CARDOZA, Ms. BORDALLO, 

Mr. FILNER, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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 amend the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and 

transparency in contracting with small business concerns. 

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 ‘‘Fairness and Trans5 parency in Contracting Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 


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1 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

3 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

4 (2) the term ‘‘parent company’’, relating to a 

5 business concern, means a person other than an in6 dividual that owns not less than 51 percent of that 

7 business concern; 

8 (3) the terms ‘‘small business concern’’, ‘‘small 

9 business concern owned and controlled by veterans’’, 

10 ‘‘small business concern owned and controlled by 

11 service-disabled veterans’’, and ‘‘small business con12 cern owned and controlled by women’’ have the 

13 meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Small 

14 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), as amended by this 

15 Act; and 

16 (4) the term ‘‘small business concern owned 

17 and controlled by socially and economically disadvan18 taged individuals’’ has the meaning given that term 

19 in section 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 

20 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)). 

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

22 The purpose of this Act is to modify the definitions 

23 relating to whether a business concern qualifies as a small 

24 business concern, to establish additional requirements that 

25 ensure that no publically traded business concern, subVerDate Nov 24 2008 19:15 May 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2568.IH H2568

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1 sidiary of a publically traded business concern, foreign2 owned business concern, or subsidiary of a foreign-owned 

3 business concern is considered a small business concern 

4 for the purpose of Federal Government contracting and 

5 subcontracting, including for procurement goals. 

6 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN AND 

7 STATUS REVIEW. 

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

9 632(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(5) INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 

12 term ‘independently owned and operated’ does not 

13 include a business concern— 

14 ‘‘(i) that is— 

15 ‘‘(I) an issuer of a class of securities 

16 registered or that is required to be reg17 istered pursuant to section 12 of the Secu18 rities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 

19 78l) or that is required to file reports pur20 suant to section 15(d) of that Act (15 

21 U.S.C. 78o(d)); or 

22 ‘‘(II) owned by an issuer of a class of 

23 securities registered or that is required to 

24 be registered pursuant to section 12 of the 

25 Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 


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1 U.S.C. 78l) or that is required to file re2 ports pursuant to section 15(d) of that Act 

3 (15 U.S.C. 78o(d)); or 

4 ‘‘(ii) more than 50 percent of which is 

5 owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more in6 dividuals that are not United States citizens. 

7 ‘‘(B) ENTITIES.—In determining ownership of 

8 a business concern, any interest in the business con9 cern that is owned by a person that is not an indi10 vidual (including a corporation, partnership, estate 

11 or trust) shall be considered owned proportionately 

12 by or for the individuals that own that person.’’. 

13 SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall no16 tify the head of each Federal department or agency re17 garding this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

18 (b) TO CONTRACTORS.—Not later than 6 months 

19 after receiving notice under subsection (a), the head of a 

20 Federal department or agency shall notify any contractor 

21 of that department or agency regarding this Act and the 

22 amendments made by this Act. 

23 SEC. 6. REPORTING. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

25 end of each fiscal year, the Administrator shall publish 


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1 a report regarding prime contracts with the Federal Gov2 ernment awarded to business concerns that were identified 

3 as small business concerns for the purposes of achieving 

4 the small business contracting goals of the Federal Gov5 ernment during the previous fiscal year. 

6 (b) CONTENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each report under sub8 section (a) shall, for the fiscal year before the year 

9 in which that report is published, include— 

10 (A) the name of each small business con11 cern, small business concern owned and con12 trolled by socially and economically disadvan13 taged individuals, small business concern owned 

14 and controlled by women, small business con15 cern owned and controlled by veterans, and 

16 small business concern owned and controlled by 

17 service-disabled veterans that was awarded a 

18 prime contract with the Federal Government; 

19 and 

20 (B) for each small business concern de21 scribed in subparagraph (A), the total dollar 

22 amount of prime contracts with the Federal 

23 Government awarded to that small business 

24 concern in descending order. 


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1 (2) PARENT COMPANIES.—If a small business 

2 concern described in paragraph (1)(A) has a parent 

3 company, the Administrator shall report information 

4 relating to any prime contract with the federal gov5 ernment of that small business concern und the 

6 name of that parent company. 

7 (c) AVAILABILITY.—The Administrator shall make 

8 each report under subsection (a) available on the website 

9 of the Administration in a manner that is easily accessible 

10 by members of the public. 

11 SEC. 7. LIST OF CONTRACTORS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal department and 

13 agency shall publish on the website of that department or 

14 agency a list of each business concern that received a con15 tract award because that business concern was identified 

16 as a small business concern. 

17 (b) LIST CONTENTS.—A list published under sub18 section (a) shall— 

19 (1) list business concerns in the order of the 

20 total amount in dollars of contracts between the 

21 Federal Government and that business concern, be22 ginning with the largest total value; 

23 (2) include the total amount in dollars of con24 tracts between the Federal Government and each 

25 business concern on such list; and 


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1 (3) include the name of any parent company of 

2 a business concern on such list. 

3 SEC. 8. CONTRACTING DATABASES. 

4 The Administrator shall, by regulation, establish pro5 cedures to ensure that the Central Contractor Registration 

6 database and any successor database provide an adequate 

7 warning regarding criminal penalties established under 

8 section 16(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 645(d)) for misrepresenting the status of a business con10 cern or person in order to obtain certain contracts with 

11 the Federal Government. 

12 SEC. 9. ENFORCEMENT. 

13 (a) COMPLAINTS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person may file a com15 plaint with the Administrator and the head of the 

16 affected department or agency about the classifica17 tion of a business concern as a small business con18 cern and the Administrator and the head of the af19 fected department or agency shall resolve any com20 plaint filed under this paragraph in a timely man21 ner. 

22 (2) REPORTS.—The Administrator shall annu23 ally submit to Congress a report describing any com24 plaints described in paragraph (1) that were filed 


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1 during the relevant year and the resolution of any 

2 such complaint. 

3 (b) DEBARMENT.—The head of each Federal depart4 ment or agency shall issue or amend the contracting rules 

5 and regulations for that department or agency to ensure 

6 that a business concern shall be debarred from receiving 

7 a Federal contract for a period of not less than 5 years 

8 if that business concern— 

9 (1) fraudulently represents that it is a small 

10 business concern as part of a bid for a small busi11 ness contract with that department or agency; or 

12 (2) violates this Act or an amendment made by 

13 this Act. 

Æ 


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