I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 273 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance services to small business 

concerns that are disadvantaged, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2015 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to enhance services to 

small business concerns that are disadvantaged, 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 ‘‘Minority Small Busi5 ness Enhancement Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF SERVICES TO SMALL BUSI7 NESSES THAT ARE DISADVANTAGED. 

8 (a) NET WORTH.—Section 8(a)(6)(A) of the Small 

9 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(6)(A)) is amended by in10 serting after ‘‘disadvantaged individual.’’ the following: 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 273 IH

1 ‘‘For purposes of eligibility for admission as a Program 

2 Participant and for continued eligibility after admission, 

3 the net worth of such individual may be any amount less 

4 than $1,500,000.’’. 

5 (b) TIME LIMIT ON PARTICIPATION.—Section 

6 7(j)(15) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(j)(15)) 

7 is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and 

9 (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively; 

10 (2) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(15)’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(B) No time limitation relating to the pe13 riod that a small business concern may receive 

14 developmental assistance under the Program 

15 and contracts under section 8(a) shall apply to 

16 a small business concern that has not completed 

17 a contract under section 8(a).’’. 

18 SEC. 3. BUNDLED CONTRACTS. 

19 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 3(o) of the Small Business 

20 Act (15 U.S.C. 632(o)) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(o) DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT RE22 QUIREMENTS AND RELATED TERMS.—For purposes of 

23 this Act: 

24 ‘‘(1) BUNDLED CONTRACT.— 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 273 IH

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘bundled 

2 contract’ means a contract or order that is en3 tered into to meet procurement requirements 

4 that are consolidated in a bundling of contract 

5 requirements, without regard to its designation 

6 by the procuring agency or whether a study of 

7 the effects of the solicitation on civilian or mili8 tary personnel has been made. 

9 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term does not in10 clude— 

11 ‘‘(i) a contract or order with an aggre12 gate dollar value below the dollar threshold 

13 specified in paragraph (5); or 

14 ‘‘(ii) a contract or order that is en15 tered into to meet procurement require16 ments, all of which are exempted require17 ments under paragraph (6). 

18 ‘‘(2) BUNDLING OF CONTRACT REQUIRE19 MENTS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘bundling of 

21 contract requirements’ means the use of any 

22 bundling methodology to satisfy 2 or more pro23 curement requirements for goods or services 

24 previously supplied or performed under separate 

25 smaller contracts or orders, or to satisfy 2 or 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 273 IH

1 more procurement requirements for construc2 tion services of a type historically performed 

3 under separate smaller contracts or orders, that 

4 is likely to be unsuitable for award to a small 

5 business concern due to— 

6 ‘‘(i) the diversity, size, or specialized 

7 nature of the elements of the performance 

8 specified; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the aggregate dollar value of the 

10 anticipated award; 

11 ‘‘(iii) the geographical dispersion of 

12 the contract or order performance sites; or 

13 ‘‘(iv) any combination of the factors 

14 described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). 

15 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF NEW FEATURES OR

16 FUNCTIONS.—A combination of contract re17 quirements that would meet the definition of a 

18 bundling of contract requirements but for the 

19 addition of a procurement requirement with at 

20 least one new good or service shall be consid21 ered to be a bundling of contract requirements 

22 unless the new features or functions substan23 tially transform the goods or services and will 

24 provide measurably substantial benefits to the 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 273 IH

1 government in terms of quality, performance, or 

2 price. 

3 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—The term does not in4 clude— 

5 ‘‘(i) the use of a bundling method6 ology for an anticipated award with an ag7 gregate dollar value below the dollar 

8 threshold specified in paragraph (5); or 

9 ‘‘(ii) the use of a bundling method10 ology to meet procurement requirements, 

11 all of which are exempted requirements 

12 under paragraph (6). 

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

14 ‘bundling methodology’ means— 

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

16 single contract or order, or a multiple award 

17 contract or order; or 

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

19 issuance of a task or a delivery order under an 

20 existing single or multiple award contract or 

21 order. 

22 ‘‘(4) SEPARATE SMALLER CONTRACT.—The 

23 term ‘separate smaller contract’, with respect to 

24 bundling of contract requirements, means a contract 

25 or order that has been performed by 1 or more small 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 273 IH

1 business concerns or was suitable for award to 1 or 

2 more small business concerns. 

3 ‘‘(5) DOLLAR THRESHOLD.—The term ‘dollar 

4 threshold’ means $65,000,000, if solely for construc5 tion services, and $5,000,000 with respect to all 

6 other circumstances. 

7 ‘‘(6) EXEMPTED REQUIREMENTS.—The term 

8 ‘exempted requirement’ means a procurement re9 quirement solely for items that are not commercial 

10 items (as the term ‘commercial item’ is defined in 

11 section 4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement 

12 Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12)). 

13 ‘‘(7) PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENT.—The term 

14 ‘procurement requirement’ means a determination 

15 by an agency that a specified good or service is 

16 needed to satisfy the mission of the agency.’’. 

17 (b) PROPOSED PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

19 644(a)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘necessary and justified.’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘necessary and justified, as well as identi22 fying information on the incumbent contract holders, 

23 a description of the industries which might be inter24 ested in bidding on the contract requirements, and 

25 the number of small businesses listed in the industry 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 273 IH

1 categories that could be excluded from future bid2 ding if the contract is combined or packaged.’’; and 

3 (2) by striking the sentence beginning ‘‘When4 ever the Administration and the contracting procure5 ment agency fail to agree,’’ and inserting the fol6 lowing: ‘‘Whenever the Administration and the con7 tracting procurement agency fail to agree, the Ad8 ministrator may review the proposed procurement, 

9 may delay the solicitation process for not more than 

10 10 days to make recommendations, and the matter 

11 shall be submitted to the Director of the Office of 

12 Management and Budget to mediate the disagree13 ment.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. FEDERAL CONTRACTING GOALS. 

15 (a) INCREASE IN CERTAIN GOALS.—Section 15(g)(1) 

16 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 

17 amended— 

18 (1) by striking ‘‘not less than 23 percent’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘not less than 25 percent’’; and 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘not less than 5 percent’’ each 

21 place it appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 10 per22 cent’’. 

23 (b) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF CATEGORIES FOR

24 WHICH A BUSINESS MAY QUALIFY.—Section 15(g) of the 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 273 IH

1 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is amended by 

2 adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection and sub4 section (h), with respect to each procurement con5 tract a small business concern may not qualify as 

6 more than 2 specified categories, regardless of 

7 whether such small business concern satisfies the 

8 definition of more than 2 specified categories. The 

9 specified categories are small business concerns, 

10 small business concerns owned and controlled by 

11 service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small 

12 business concerns, small business concerns owned 

13 and controlled by socially and economically disadvan14 taged individuals, and small business concerns 

15 owned and controlled by women.’’. 

16 (c) GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

17 STUDY.—Not later than October 1, 2016, the Comptroller 

18 General of the United States shall conduct and submit to 

19 Congress a report describing the results of a study on dis20 parities in the awarding of Federal contracts to procure 

21 goods or services with respect to small business concerns 

22 owned and controlled by socially and economically dis23 advantaged individuals, small business concerns, and other 

24 business concerns. 

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS