II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1702 

To promote employment of individuals with severe disabilities through Federal 

Government contracting and procurement processes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2007 

Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. 

LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote employment of individuals with severe disabilities 

through Federal Government contracting and procurement processes, 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 ‘‘Employer Work Incen5 tive Act for Individuals with Severe Disabilities’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to promote employment 

8 opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities, by re9 quiring Federal agencies to offer incentives to Government 


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1 contractors and subcontractors that employ substantial 

2 numbers of individuals with severe disabilities. 

3 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) Of the 9,400,000 people with severe disabil6 ities in the United States who want to work, only 

7 26.1 percent are employed. 

8 (2) The Social Security trustees project that, by 

9 2029, the Disability Trust Fund will be exhausted, 

10 13 years before the Old Age and Survivors Trust 

11 Fund. 

12 (3) A June 2005 Government Accountability 

13 Office (GAO) report designated modernizing federal 

14 disability programs as a high-risk area, one that re15 quires urgent attention and organizational trans16 formation to ensure that programs function in the 

17 most economical, efficient and effective manner pos18 sible. Solutions to these problems are likely to re19 quire fundamental changes, including regulatory and 

20 legislative action. 

21 (4) If one percent of people with severe disabil22 ities now receiving Social Security Disability Insur23 ance and Supplemental Security Income payments 

24 were employed, the projected 10-year cost savings 

25 for the Treasury would equal $45,000,000,000. 


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1 (5) It is appropriate for the Federal Govern2 ment to offer incentives to government contractors 

3 who employ significant numbers of individuals with 

4 severe disabilities. 

5 SEC. 4. CONTRACTORS EMPLOYING INDIVIDUALS WITH SE6 VERE DISABILITIES. 

7 (a) CONTRACTORS EMPLOYING INDIVIDUALS WITH

8 SEVERE DISABILITIES.—The Office of Federal Procure9 ment Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403 et seq.) is amended by 

10 adding at the end the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 43. CONTRACTORS EMPLOYING INDIVIDUALS WITH 

12 SEVERE DISABILITIES. 

13 ‘‘(a) TARGETS FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF BUSI14 NESSES EMPLOYING INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE DIS15 ABILITIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) GOVERNMENT-WIDE TARGET.—The Ad17 ministrator shall annually establish a Government18 wide target for procurement contracts awarded to 

19 businesses that employ individuals with severe dis20 abilities. The Government-wide target shall be estab21 lished at not less than 2.5 percent of the total value 

22 of all prime contract and subcontract procurements 

23 for each fiscal year. 

24 ‘‘(2) EXECUTIVE AGENCY TARGETS.—Each ex25 ecutive agency shall have an annual procurement 


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1 target that presents, for that agency, the maximum 

2 practicable opportunity for businesses that employ 

3 individuals with severe disabilities to participate in 

4 the performance of contracts, and the performance 

5 of subcontracts to prime contracts, entered into by 

6 such agency. 

7 ‘‘(3) CUMULATIVE TARGET.—The Adminis8 trator shall ensure that the cumulative procurement 

9 targets for executive agencies established pursuant 

10 to paragraph (2) meet or exceed the annual Govern11 ment-wide procurement target established pursuant 

12 to paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(4) DATABASE.—The Administrator shall 

14 work with the Administrator of General Services to 

15 establish and maintain a database of eligible non16 profit and for profit business entities that qualify as 

17 businesses that employ individuals with severe dis18 abilities. 

19 ‘‘(b) INCENTIVES FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF INDI20 VIDUALS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

23 shall promulgate regulations in the Federal Ac24 quisition Regulation providing that the partici25 pation of businesses that employ individuals 


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1 with severe disabilities or the participation of 

2 prime contractors that subcontract to such 

3 businesses shall be an evaluation factor in all 

4 contracts awarded by executive agencies. The 

5 Administrator shall ensure that this evaluation 

6 factor is given sufficient weight to allow all 

7 agencies to be in compliance with the 2.5 per8 cent contracting targets under subsection (a). 

9 ‘‘(B) DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENT.— 

10 The regulations promulgated under subpara11 graph (A) shall provide that an executive agen12 cy awarding a contract may not evaluate a busi13 ness as a business that employs individuals with 

14 severe disabilities unless the business provides 

15 to such agency— 

16 ‘‘(i) documentation that the business 

17 currently qualifies as a business that em18 ploys individuals with severe disabilities; 

19 ‘‘(ii) documentation that the business 

20 has a history of hiring individuals with se21 vere disabilities, a letter of commitment 

22 stating that the business will meet the em23 ployment criteria provided under sub24 section (e)(1)(B) within 1 year after the 


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1 starting date of the contract, and a plan 

2 for meeting such criteria; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) documentation that the em4 ployer currently employs at least one indi5 vidual with severe disabilities, a letter of 

6 commitment stating that the business will 

7 meet the employment criteria provided 

8 under subsection (e)(1)(B) within 1 year 

9 after the starting date of the contract, and 

10 a plan for meeting such criteria. 

11 ‘‘(C) CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO

12 QUALIFY FOR ADVANTAGE.—The failure of a 

13 business that is awarded a contract (either as 

14 a prime contractor or a subcontractor) as a re15 sult of a preference given pursuant to subpara16 graph (A) to meet the employment criteria pro17 vided under subsection (e)(1)(B) within 1 year 

18 after the starting date of such contract shall re19 sult in the termination of such contract, unless 

20 a one-time waiver is submitted and approved, 

21 for good cause, before the end of such time pe22 riod. 

23 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION BETWEEN AGENCIES AND IN24 TERESTED GROUPS.—The Assistant Secretary of Labor 

25 for Employment and Training shall be responsible for 


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1 seeking and obtaining input from the executive agencies 

2 responsible for Federal procurement and from individuals, 

3 groups, associations, and disability organizations regard4 ing the effectiveness, outreach, utilization, and advance5 ment of the goals and purposes of the employment and 

6 contracting program under this section. 

7 ‘‘(d) REGIONAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS.—The Sec8 retary of Labor shall utilize existing Regional Assistance 

9 Centers to provide assistance to businesses in qualifying 

10 for the incentives established pursuant to subsection (b). 

11 The Regional Assistance Centers shall be headquartered 

12 in the Department of Labor’s regional workforce offices 

13 operated under the authority of the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) The term ‘business that employs individ16 uals with severe disabilities’ means an eligible non17 profit or for-profit business entity that— 

18 ‘‘(A) demonstrates that it has established 

19 an integrated employment setting, meaning that 

20 the employment setting for severely disabled 

21 employees is similar to the employment setting 

22 for non-disabled employees performing similar 

23 tasks and that severely disabled employees are 

24 not unnecessarily physically separated from 


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1 non-disabled or other disabled employees in 

2 their employment settings; 

3 ‘‘(B) beginning not later than 1 year after 

4 the starting date of the contract for which the 

5 Federal procurement advantage was utilized, 

6 employs individuals with severe disabilities— 

7 ‘‘(i) in not less than 25 percent of the 

8 full-time equivalent positions of the busi9 ness, if the business has 50 or fewer full10 time equivalent employees; 

11 ‘‘(ii) in not less than 18 percent of the 

12 full-time equivalent positions, if the busi13 ness has between 51 and 250 full-time 

14 equivalent employees; or 

15 ‘‘(iii) in not less than 15 percent of 

16 the full-time equivalent positions, if the 

17 business has more than 250 full-time posi18 tions; and 

19 ‘‘(C)(i) pays wages to each of the individ20 uals with severe disabilities at not less than the 

21 applicable rate described in section 6(a)(1) of 

22 the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 

23 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)), regardless of whether the in24 dividuals are engaged in supported employment, 

25 or training, under a contract with an executive 


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1 agency or a program that receives Federal 

2 funds; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) does not employ any individual with a 

4 severe disability pursuant to a special certificate 

5 issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor 

6 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 214(c)); and 

7 ‘‘(D) makes contributions for at least 50 

8 percent of the total cost of the annual pre9 miums for health insurance coverage for its em10 ployees. 

11 ‘‘(2)(A) The term ‘individual with a severe dis12 ability’ means an individual who is a disabled bene13 ficiary (as defined in section 1148(k)(2) of the So14 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–19(k)(2)) or an 

15 individual who would be considered to be such a dis16 abled beneficiary but for having income or assets in 

17 excess of the income or asset eligibility limits estab18 lished under title II or XVI of the Social Security 

19 Act, respectively (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq., 1381 et 

20 seq.). 

21 ‘‘(B) The term ‘individuals with severe disabil22 ities’ means more than 1 individual with a severe 

23 disability.’’. 


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1 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

2 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 43. Contractors employing individuals with severe disabilities.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. REPORTING. 

5 Not later than August 31 of each year, the Assistant 

6 Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training shall 

7 submit to Congress an annual report on progress made 

8 in achieving the targets established under section 43 of 

9 the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, as added 

10 by section 4. 

Æ 


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