II 

Calendar No. 287 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2138 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the review and acceptance 

of subcontracting plans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 6, 2015 

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

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

NOVEMBER 3, 2015 

Reported by Mr. VITTER, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the review 

and acceptance of subcontracting plans, 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 ‘‘Small Business Sub5 contracting Transparency Act of 2015’’. 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2138 RS

1 SEC. 2. TRANSPARENCY IN SUBCONTRACTING GOALS. 

2 Section 8(d)(9) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 637(d)(9)) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘(9) The failure’’ and inserting 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(9) MATERIAL BREACH.—The failure’’; 

7 (2) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘sub8 section, or’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection,’’; 

9 (3) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sub10 contract,’’ and inserting ‘‘subcontract, or’’; and 

11 (4) by moving subparagraphs (A) and (B) 2 ems 

12 to the right; and 

13 (45) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(C) assurances provided under paragraph 

16 (6)(E),’’. 

17 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE 

18 SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. 

19 Section 8(d)(11) of the Small Business Act (15 

20 U.S.C. 637(d)(11)) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘(11) In the case of’’ and insert22 ing the following: 

23 ‘‘(11) AUTHORITY OF ADMINISTRATION.—In 

24 the case of’’; and 

25 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘, which 

26 shall be advisory in nature,’’.; and 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2138 RS

1 (3) by moving subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) 

2 2 ems to the right. 

3 SEC. 4. IMPROVING SUBCONTRACTING PLANS. 

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

5 637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(17) REVIEW AND ACCEPTANCE OF SUBCON7 TRACTING PLANS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 

9 term ‘covered small business concerns’ means— 

10 ‘‘(i) small business concerns; 

11 ‘‘(ii) qualified HUBZone small busi12 ness concerns; 

13 ‘‘(iii) small business concerns owned 

14 and controlled by veterans; 

15 ‘‘(iv) small business concerns owned 

16 and controlled by service-disabled veterans; 

17 ‘‘(v) small business concerns owned 

18 and controlled by socially and economically 

19 disadvantaged individuals, as defined in 

20 paragraph (3)(C); and 

21 ‘‘(vi) small business concerns owned 

22 and controlled by women. 

23 ‘‘(B) DELAYED ACCEPTANCE OF PLAN.— 

24 Except as provided in subparagraph (E), if a 

25 procurement center representative or commerVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Nov 03, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.RS S2138

srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2138 RS

1 cial market representative determines that a 

2 subcontracting plan required under paragraph 

3 (4) or (5) fails to provide the maximum prac4 ticable opportunity for covered small business 

5 concerns to participate in the performance of 

6 the contract to which the plan applies, the rep7 resentative may delay acceptance of the plan in 

8 accordance with subparagraph (C). 

9 ‘‘(C) PROCESS FOR DELAYED ACCEPT10 ANCE.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro12 vided in clause (ii), a procurement center 

13 representative or commercial market rep14 resentative who makes a determination 

15 under subparagraph (B) with respect to a 

16 subcontracting plan may delay acceptance 

17 of the plan for a 30-day period by pro18 viding written notice of the determination 

19 to head of the procuring activity of the 

20 contracting agency that includes rec21 ommendations for altering the plan to pro22 vide the maximum practicable opportunity 

23 described in that subparagraph. 

24 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—In the case of the 

25 Department of Defense— 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2138 RS

1 ‘‘(I) a procurement center rep2 resentative or commercial market rep3 resentative who makes a determina4 tion under subparagraph (B) with re5 spect to a subcontracting plan may 

6 delay acceptance of the plan for a 15- 

7 day period by providing written notice 

8 of the determination to appropriate 

9 personnel of the Department of De10 fense that includes recommendations 

11 for altering the plan to provide the 

12 maximum practicable opportunity de13 scribed in that subparagraph; and 

14 ‘‘(II) the authority of a procure15 ment center representative or com16 mercial market representative to delay 

17 acceptance of a subcontracting plan as 

18 provided in subparagraph (B) does 

19 not include the authority to delay the 

20 award or performance of the contract 

21 concerned. 

22 ‘‘(D) DISAGREEMENTS.—If a procurement 

23 center representative or commercial market rep24 resentative delays the acceptance of a subcon25 tracting plan under subparagraph (C) and does 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2138 RS

1 not reach agreement with the head of the pro2 curing activity of the contracting agency to 

3 alter the plan to provide the maximum prac4 ticable opportunity described in subparagraph 

5 (B) not later than 30 days after the date on 

6 which written notice was provided, the disagree7 ment shall be submitted to the head of the con8 tracting agency by the Administrator for a final 

9 determination. 

10 ‘‘(E) EXCEPTION.—A procurement center 

11 representative or commercial market represent12 ative may not delay the acceptance of a subcon13 tracting plan if the head of the contracting 

14 agency certifies that the need of the agency for 

15 the supplies or services is of such an unusual 

16 and compelling urgency that the United States 

17 would be seriously injured unless the agency is 

18 permitted to accept the subcontracting plan.’’. 

19 SEC. 5. GOOD FAITH COMPLIANCE. 

20 Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business Ad22 ministration shall issue regulations providing examples of 

23 activities that would be considered a failure to make a 

24 good faith effort to comply with the requirements imposed 

25 on an entity, other than a small business concern, (as deVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:47 Nov 03, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2138.RS S2138

srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2138 RS

1 fined in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

2 632)), that is awarded a prime contract containing the 

3 clauses required under paragraphs paragraph (4) or (5) 

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

5 637(d)). 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 287 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2138 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to improve the 

and for other purposes. review and acceptance of subcontracting plans, 

NOVEMBER 3, 2015 

Reported with amendments 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS