II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 259 

To assure equity in contracting between the Federal Government and small 

business concerns, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2013 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To assure equity in contracting between the Federal Government and small business concerns, 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 ‘‘Assuring Contracting 

5 Equity Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL CONTRACTING GOALS. 

7 (a) INCREASE IN CERTAIN GOALS.—Section 15(g)(1) 

8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is 

9 amended— 


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1 (1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘not less 

2 than 23 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than 25 

3 percent’’; 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘not less than 5 percent’’ each 

5 place that term appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 

6 10 percent’’; and 

7 (3) by striking ‘‘not less than 3 percent’’ each 

8 place that term appears and inserting ‘‘not less than 

9 6 percent’’. 

10 (b) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF CATEGORIES FOR

11 WHICH A BUSINESS MAY QUALIFY.—Section 15(g) of the 

12 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is amended by 

13 adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(3)(A) In this paragraph, the term ‘specified cat15 egory’ means small business concerns, small business con16 cerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, 

17 qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small busi18 ness concerns owned and controlled by socially and eco19 nomically disadvantaged individuals, and small business 

20 concerns owned and controlled by women. 

21 ‘‘(B) Except as provided subparagraph (C), a Federal 

22 agency may include a business concern in not more than 

23 2 specified categories for purposes of determining whether 

24 the Federal agency has met the Government-wide goals 


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1 under this subsection for the award of contracts to busi2 ness concerns in specified categories. 

3 ‘‘(C) A Federal agency may not include a small busi4 ness concern that is participating in the program under 

5 section 8(a) in any specified category except the category 

6 ‘small business concerns owned and controlled by socially 

7 and economically disadvantaged individuals’ for purposes 

8 of determining whether the Federal agency has met the 

9 Government-wide goals under this subsection for the 

10 award of contracts to business concerns in specified cat11 egories.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY TO ASSIST SMALL 

13 BUSINESS CONCERNS. 

14 Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended by inserting after the sec16 ond sentence the following: ‘‘For purposes of this sub17 section, in addition to the existing reporting requirements, 

18 the Administrator shall include the percentage of small 

19 business concern participation for the total value of all 

20 prime contract awards for a fiscal year, including the value 

21 of each prime contract awarded for the fiscal year, without 

22 regard to whether the prime contract was awarded as the 

23 result of unrestricted competition or any determination by 

24 the Administrator with respect to the potential for a small 


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1 business concern to perform the prime contract or a sub2 contract under the prime contract.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH SMALL BUSINESS SUBCON4 TRACTING GOALS. 

5 The Administrator of the Small Business Administra6 tion shall consult with the heads of other Federal agencies 

7 to develop and implement standards for procurement offi8 cers to take into consideration the past compliance of po9 tential contractors with small business subcontracting 

10 goals when making contract awards. 

Æ 


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