II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2778 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report 

on competition among suppliers of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 

Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to 

Congress a report on competition among suppliers of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Vetting for Equal 

5 Treatment of Small Business Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘VETS 

6 Business Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORT ON COMPETITION IN DEPARTMENT OF 

2 VETERANS AFFAIRS INDUSTRIAL BASE. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find4 ings: 

5 (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs offers 

6 services to veterans that require the Department to 

7 enter into the Federal contracting process. 

8 (2) The Office of Small and Disadvantaged 

9 Business Utilization (OSDBU) of the Department 

10 works to develop policies and programs that improve 

11 market research, increase direct access, and maxi12 mize the participation of procurement veteran-owned 

13 small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned 

14 small businesses in Federal contracting. 

15 (3) The Competition in Contracting Act of 

16 1984 (Public Law 98–369; 98 Stat. 1175) was en17 acted to encourage competition in Government con18 tracts to improve savings for the Government. 

19 (4) A lack of competition could artificially raise 

20 costs incurred by the Department in future contract 

21 decisions. 

22 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

24 of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Vet25 erans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Vet26 erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 


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1 on the state of competition among suppliers of the Depart2 ment of Veterans Affairs. 

3 (c) CONTENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 

4 subsection (b) shall include the following: 

5 (1) An examination of the number of contrac6 tors in the industrial base that supports the Depart7 ment. 

8 (2) Identification of areas for competition with9 in such industrial base that need improvement. 

10 (3) Identification of specific areas within the in11 dustrial base where competition has either increased 

12 or decreased in sole source contract decisions. 

13 (4) Recommendations of legislative or adminis14 trative action to improve competition among sup15 pliers of the Department. 

16 (d) CONSULTATION.—In preparing the report re17 quired by subsection (b), the Secretary shall consult with 

18 the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utiliza19 tion of the Department. 

20 (e) MODEL.—To the degree practicable, the Sec21 retary shall use as a model for the report required by sub22 section (a) the report of the Under Secretary of Defense 

23 for Acquisition and Sustainment entitled ‘‘State of Com24 petition within the Defense Industrial Base’’ and dated 

25 February, 2022. 


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1 (f) PUBLICATION.—After submitting the report re2 quired by subsection (b) in accordance with such sub3 section, the Secretary shall make the report available to 

4 the public. 

Æ 


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