I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6347 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a pilot procurement program for military spouses, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 23, 2021 

Ms. STRICKLAND (for herself, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, and Mr. CARSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 

Business 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a pilot procurement program for military spouses, 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 ‘‘Military Spouse Entre5 preneurs Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PILOT PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR MILITARY 

7 SPOUSES. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 

9 Small Business Administration shall carry out a pilot proVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:06 Dec 23, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6347.IH H6347

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1 gram to establish a procurement program for military 

2 spouses. 

3 (b) AUTHORITY TO RESTRICT COMPETITION.—In ac4 cordance with this subsection, a contracting officer may 

5 restrict competition for any contract for the procurement 

6 of goods or services by the Federal Government to small 

7 business concerns owned and controlled by military 

8 spouses, if— 

9 (1) each of the concerns is not less than 51 per10 cent owned by one or more military spouses; 

11 (2) the contracting officer has a reasonable ex12 pectation that two or more small business concerns 

13 owned and controlled by military spouses will submit 

14 offers for the contract; 

15 (3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 

16 the contract award can be made at a fair and rea17 sonable price; and 

18 (4) each of the concerns is certified by the Ad19 ministrator or a third party certifying entity as a 

20 small business concern owned and controlled by mili21 tary spouses. 

22 (c) AUTHORITY FOR SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.—A 

23 contracting officer may award a sole source contract under 

24 this subsection to any small business concern owned and 


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1 controlled by military spouses described in subsection (b) 

2 if— 

3 (1) such concern is determined to be a respon4 sible contractor with respect to performance of the 

5 contract opportunity and the contracting officer does 

6 not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more 

7 small business concerns owned and controlled by 

8 military spouses will submit offers for the contract; 

9 and 

10 (2) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 

11 the contract award can be made at a fair and rea12 sonable price. 

13 (d) GOVERNMENTWIDE GOAL.—The Administrator 

14 shall establish a Governmentwide goal for participation by 

15 small business concerns owned and controlled by military 

16 spouses at not less than 5 percent of the total value of 

17 all prime contract and subcontract awards for each year 

18 of the pilot program. 

19 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the termi20 nation date described in subsection (f), the Administrator 

21 shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot program 

22 established under this section, including— 

23 (1) the number of small business concerns 

24 owned and controlled by military spouses that par25 ticipated in the pilot program; 


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1 (2) data on the effectiveness of the pilot pro2 gram in encouraging contracting with small business 

3 concerns owned and controlled by military spouses; 

4 (3) information on whether the goal described 

5 in subsection (e) was met; 

6 (4) data on oversight of the pilot program; and 

7 (5) recommendations for— 

8 (A) any improvements to the pilot pro9 gram; and 

10 (B) whether to make the pilot program 

11 permanent. 

12 (f) TERMINATION.—The pilot program established 

13 under this section shall terminate not later than 5 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

15 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis17 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi18 ness Administration. 

19 (2) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—The term ‘‘con20 tracting officer’’ has the meaning given such term in 

21 section 27(f)(5) of the Office of Federal Procure22 ment Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423(f)(5)). 

23 (3) MILITARY SPOUSE.—The term ‘‘military 

24 spouse’’ means a current or former spouse of— 

25 (A) a veteran; or 


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1 (B) a member of the Armed Forces (as 

2 those terms are defined in section 101 of title 

3 10, United States Code). 

4 (4) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED AND

5 CONTROLLED BY MILITARY SPOUSES.—The term 

6 ‘‘small business concern owned and controlled by 

7 military spouses’’ means a small business concern— 

8 (A)(i) not less than 51 percent of which is 

9 owned by one or more military spouses or, in 

10 the case of any publicly owned business, not 

11 less than 51 percent of the stock of which is 

12 owned by one or more military spouses; and 

13 (ii) the management and daily business op14 erations of which are controlled by one or more 

15 military spouses; or 

16 (B) that is 50 percent owned by a veteran 

17 and 50 percent owned by a military spouse of 

18 such veteran. 

19 (5) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

20 meaning given in section 101 of title 38, United 

21 States Code. 

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