I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2344 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial payment to 

small business contractors that request an equitable adjustment due 

to a change in the terms of a construction contract, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2019 

Mr. STAUBER (for himself and Mr. VEASEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial 

payment to small business contractors that request an 

equitable adjustment due to a change in the terms of 

a construction contract, 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 Pay5 ment for Performance Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION 

2 CONTRACTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Small Business Act (15 

4 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

5 15 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 15A. EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION 

7 CONTRACTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) REQUEST FOR AN EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT.— 

9 A small business concern performing a construction con10 tract that was awarded by an agency may submit a re11 quest for an equitable adjustment to the contracting offi12 cer of such agency if the contracting officer directs a 

13 change in the terms of the contract performance without 

14 the agreement of the small business concern. Such request 

15 shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) be timely made pursuant to the terms of 

17 the contract; and 

18 ‘‘(2) specify the estimated amount required to 

19 cover additional costs resulting from such change in 

20 the terms of the contract performance. 

21 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT.—Upon receipt of a request for equi22 table adjustment under subsection (a), the agency shall 

23 provide to the small business concern an interim partial 

24 payment in an amount that is at least 50 percent of the 

25 estimated amount under subsection (a)(2). 


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1 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—Any interim partial payment 

2 made under this section shall not be deemed to be an ac3 tion to definitize the request for an equitable adjustment. 

4 ‘‘(d) FLOW-DOWN OF INTERIM PARTIAL PAYMENT

5 AMOUNTS.—A small business concern that requests an eq6 uitable adjustment under this section shall pay to a first 

7 tier subcontractor or supplier the portion of each interim 

8 partial payment received that is attributable to the in9 creased costs of performance incurred by the first tier sub10 contractor or supplier due to the change in the terms of 

11 the contract performance. A first tier subcontractor or 

12 supplier that receives a portion of an interim partial pay13 ment under this section shall pay to a subcontractor or 

14 supplier at any tier the appropriate portion of such pay15 ment.’’. 

16 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Administrator of the 

17 Small Business Administration shall implement the re18 quirements of this section not later than the earlier of the 

19 following dates: 

20 (1) The first day of the first full fiscal year be21 ginning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

22 (2) October 1, 2021. 

Æ 


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