I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4071

To amend the Small Business Act to assist the development of small business

concerns owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 12, 1996

Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Small Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to assist the development

of small business concerns owned and controlled by

women, 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 ‘‘Women’s Business

5 Training Centers Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. WOMEN’S BUSINESS TRAINING CENTERS.

7 Section 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656)

8 is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘SEC. 29. (a) The Administration may provide finan10 cial assistance to private organizations to conduct five-
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1 year projects for the benefit of small business concerns

2 owned and controlled by women. The projects shall pro3 vide—

4 ‘‘(1) financial assistance, including training and

5 counseling in how to apply for and secure business

6 credit and investment capital, preparing and pre7 senting financial statements, and managing cashflow

8 and other financial operations of a business concern;

9 ‘‘(2) management assistance, including training

10 and counseling in how to plan, organize, staff, direct

11 and control each major activity and function of a

12 small business concern; and

13 ‘‘(3) marketing assistance, including training

14 and counseling in identifying and segmenting domes15 tic and international market opportunities, preparing

16 and executing marketing plans, developing pricing

17 strategies, locating contract opportunities, negotiat18 ing contracts, and utilizing varying public relations

19 and advertising techniques.

20 ‘‘(b)(1) As a condition of receiving financial assist21 ance authorized by this section, the recipient organization

22 shall agree to obtain, after its application has been ap23 proved and notice of award has been issued, cash contribu24 tions from non-Federal sources as follows:
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1 ‘‘(A) in the first and second years, 1 non-Fed2 eral dollar for each 2 Federal dollars;

3 ‘‘(B) in the third year, 1 non-Federal dollar for

4 each Federal dollar; and

5 ‘‘(C) in the fourth and fifth years, 2 non-Fed6 eral dollars for each Federal dollar.

7 ‘‘(2) Up to one-half of the non-Federal sector match8 ing assistance may be in the form of in-kind contributions

9 which are budget line items only, including but not limited

10 to office equipment and office space.

11 ‘‘(3) The financial assistance authorized pursuant to

12 this section may be made by grant, contract, or coopera13 tive agreement and may contain such provision, as nec14 essary, to provide for payments in lump sum or install15 ments, and in advance or by way of reimbursement. The

16 Administration may disburse up to 25 percent of each

17 year’s Federal share awarded to a recipient organization

18 after notice of the award has been issued and before the

19 non-Federal sector matching funds are obtained.

20 ‘‘(4) If any recipient of assistance fails to obtain the

21 required non-Federal contribution during any project, it

22 shall not be eligible thereafter for advance disbursements

23 pursuant to paragraph (3) during the remainder of that

24 project, or for any other project for which it is or may

25 be funded. In addition, prior to approving assistance to
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1 such organization for any other projects, the Administra2 tion shall specifically determine whether the Administra3 tion believes that the recipient will be able to obtain the

4 requisite non-Federal funding and enter a written finding

5 setting forth the reasons for making such determination.

6 ‘‘(c) Each applicant organization initially shall sub7 mit a five-year plan on proposed fundraising and training

8 activities, and a recipient organization may receive finan9 cial assistance under this program for a maximum of five

10 years per site. The Administration shall evaluate and rank

11 applicants in accordance with predetermined selection cri12 teria that shall be stated in terms of relative importance.

13 Such criteria and their relative importance shall be made

14 publicly available and stated in each solicitation for appli15 cations made by the Administration. The criteria shall in16 clude—

17 ‘‘(1) the experience of the applicant in conduct18 ing programs or on-going efforts designed to impart

19 or upgrade the business skills of women business

20 owners or potential owners;

21 ‘‘(2) the present ability of the applicant to com22 mence a project within a minimum amount of time;

23 and

24 ‘‘(3) the ability of the applicant to provide

25 training and services to a representative number of
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1 women who are both socially and economically dis2 advantaged.

3 ‘‘(d) For the purposes of this section, the term small

4 business concern, either ‘start-up’ or existing, owned and

5 controlled by women includes any small business con6 cern—

7 ‘‘(1) which is at least 51 percent owned by one

8 or more women; and

9 ‘‘(2) the management and daily business oper10 ations are controlled by one or more women.

11 ‘‘(e) There are authorized to be appropriated

12 $8,000,000 per year to carry out the projects authorized

13 by this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of

14 law, the Administration may use such expedited acquisi15 tion methods as it deems appropriate to achieve the pur16 poses of this section, except that it shall ensure that all

17 eligible sources are provided a reasonable opportunity to

18 submit proposals.

19 ‘‘(f) The Administration shall prepare and transmit

20 a biennial report to the Committees on Small Business

21 of the Senate and House of Representatives on the effec22 tiveness of all projects conducted under the authority of

23 this section. Such report shall provide information con24 cerning—
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1 ‘‘(1) the number of individuals receiving assist2 ance;

3 ‘‘(2) the number of start-up business concerns

4 formed;

5 ‘‘(3) the gross receipts of assisted concerns;

6 ‘‘(4) increases or decreases in profits of assisted

7 concerns; and

8 ‘‘(5) the employment increases or decreases of

9 assisted concerns.

10 ‘‘(g) OFFICE OF WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP.—

11 There is hereby established within the Administration an

12 Office of Women’s Business Ownership, which shall be re13 sponsible for the administration of the Administration’s

14 programs for the development of women’s business enter15 prises, as such term is defined in section 408 of the Wom16 en’s Business Ownership Act of 1988. The Office of Wom17 en’s Business Ownership shall be administered by an As18 sistant Administrator, who shall be appointed by the Ad19 ministrator.’’.

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