II 

Calendar No. 106 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 958 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide for team and joint venture 

offers for certain contracts. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 15, 2015 

Mr. ENZI (for himself and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Reported by Mr. VITTER, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide for team and 

joint venture offers for certain contracts. 

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 Fair5 ness Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. JOINT VENTURING AND TEAMING. 

2 (a) JOINT VENTURE OFFERS FOR BUNDLED OR

3 CONSOLIDATED CONTRACTS.—Section 15(e)(4) of the 

4 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(e)(4)) is amended to 

5 read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(4) CONTRACT TEAMING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a solici8 tation of offers for a bundled or consolidated 

9 contract that is issued by the head of an agen10 cy, a small business concern may submit an 

11 offer that provides for use of a particular team 

12 of subcontractors or a joint venture of small 

13 business concerns for the performance of the 

14 contract. 

15 ‘‘(B) EVALUATION OF OFFERS.—The head 

16 of an agency shall evaluate the offer of a team 

17 or a joint venture of small business concerns 

18 submitted under subparagraph (A) in the same 

19 manner as other offers, with due consideration 

20 to the capabilities of all of the proposed sub21 contractors or members of the joint venture. 

22 ‘‘(i) TEAMS.—When evaluating an 

23 offer of a small business prime contractor 

24 that includes a proposed team of sub25 contractors, the head of the agency shall 

26 consider the capabilities and past performVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S958.RS S958

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1 ance of each first tier subcontractor that is 

2 part of the team as the capabilities and 

3 past performance of the team. 

4 ‘‘(ii) JOINT VENTURES.—When evalu5 ating an offer of a joint venture of small 

6 business concerns, if the joint venture does 

7 not have sufficient capabilities or past per8 formance to be considered for award of a 

9 contract opportunity, the head of the agen10 cy shall consider the capabilities and past 

11 performance of each member of the joint 

12 venture as the capabilities and past per13 formance of the joint venture. 

14 ‘‘(C) STATUS AS A SMALL BUSINESS CON15 CERN.—Participation of a small business con16 cern in a team or a joint venture under this 

17 paragraph shall not affect the status of that 

18 concern as a small business concern with re19 spect to the performance of a contract described 

20 in subparagraph (A).’’. 

21 (b) TEAM AND JOINT VENTURE OFFERS FOR MUL22 TIPLE AWARD CONTRACTS.—Section 15(q)(1) of the 

23 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(q)(1)) is amended— 

24 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND JOINT

25 VENTURE’’ before ‘‘REQUIREMENTS’’; 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘Each Federal agency’’ and in2 serting the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agen4 cy’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(B) TEAMS.—When evaluating an offer of 

7 a small business prime contractor that includes 

8 a proposed team of subcontractors for any mul9 tiple award contract above the substantial bun10 dling threshold of the Federal agency, the head 

11 of the Federal agency shall consider the capa12 bilities and past performance of each first tier 

13 subcontractor that is part of the team as the 

14 capabilities and past performance of the offeror. 

15 ‘‘(C) JOINT VENTURES.—When evaluating 

16 an offer of a joint venture of small business 

17 concerns for any multiple award contract above 

18 the substantial bundling threshold of the Fed19 eral agency, if the joint venture does not have 

20 sufficient capabilities or past performance to be 

21 considered for award of a contract opportunity, 

22 the head of the Federal agency shall consider 

23 the capabilities and past performance of each 

24 member of the joint venture as the capabilities 

25 and past performance of the joint venture. 


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1 ‘‘(D) USE OF SMALL BUSINESS TEAMS OR

2 JOINT VENTURES.— 

3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For contracts 

4 awarded under section 8(a), 8(m), 15(a), 

5 15(j), 31, or 36 to a team of small busi6 ness prime contractors and subcontractors 

7 or a joint venture of small business con8 cerns, the contracting officer shall certify 

9 annually to the Administration, for each 

10 year the contract is in effect, that each 

11 small business concern member of the 

12 team or joint venture has the same status 

13 of a small business concern, small business 

14 concern owned and controlled by service15 disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone 

16 small business concern, small business con17 cern owned and controlled by socially and 

18 economically disadvantaged individuals, or 

19 small business concern owned and con20 trolled by women, as applicable, that such 

21 concern had at the time the contract was 

22 awarded. 

23 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—The requirements 

24 of clause (i) shall not apply to a contract 

25 awarded to a joint venture of small busiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S958.RS S958

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1 ness concerns that is a protege under a 

2 mentor-protege program approved pursu3 ant to section 45.’’. 

4 (c) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

5 date of enactment of this section, the Administrator of the 

6 Small Business Administration shall issue any regulations 

7 necessary to carry out the amendments made by this sec8 tion. 

9 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

10 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Fairness 

11 Act’’. 

12 SEC. 2. JOINT VENTURING AND TEAMING. 

13 (a) JOINT VENTURE OFFERS FOR BUNDLED OR CON14 SOLIDATED CONTRACTS.—Section 15(e)(4) of the Small 

15 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(e)(4)) is amended to read as 

16 follows: 

17 ‘‘(4) CONTRACT TEAMING.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a solici19 tation of offers for a bundled or consolidated con20 tract that is issued by the head of an agency, a 

21 small business concern may submit an offer that 

22 provides for use of a particular team of sub23 contractors or a joint venture of small business 

24 concerns for the performance of the contract. 

25 ‘‘(B) EVALUATION OF OFFERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The head of an 

2 agency shall evaluate the offer of a team or 

3 a joint venture of small business concerns 

4 submitted under subparagraph (A) in the 

5 same manner as other offers, with due con6 sideration to the capabilities of all of the 

7 proposed subcontractors or members of the 

8 joint venture. 

9 ‘‘(ii) TEAMS.—When evaluating an 

10 offer of a small business prime contractor 

11 that includes a proposed team of sub12 contractors, the head of the agency shall 

13 consider the capabilities, prior experience, 

14 and past performance of the prime con15 tractor and each first tier subcontractor 

16 that is part of the team as the capabilities, 

17 prior experience, and past performance of 

18 the team. 

19 ‘‘(iii) JOINT VENTURES.—When evalu20 ating an offer of a joint venture of small 

21 business concerns, if the joint venture does 

22 not have sufficient capabilities, prior expe23 rience, or past performance to be considered 

24 for award of a contract opportunity, the 

25 head of the agency shall consider the capaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S958.RS S958

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1 bilities, prior experience, and past perform2 ance of each member of the joint venture as 

3 the capabilities, prior experience, and past 

4 performance of the joint venture. 

5 ‘‘(C) STATUS AS A SMALL BUSINESS CON6 CERN.—Participation of a small business con7 cern in a team or a joint venture under this 

8 paragraph shall not affect the status of that con9 cern as a small business concern with respect to 

10 the performance of a contract described in sub11 paragraph (A).’’. 

12 (b) TEAM AND JOINT VENTURE OFFERS FOR MUL13 TIPLE AWARD CONTRACTS.—Section 15(q)(1) of the Small 

14 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(q)(1)) is amended— 

15 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND JOINT

16 VENTURE’’ before ‘‘REQUIREMENTS’’; 

17 (2) by striking ‘‘Each Federal agency’’ and in18 serting the following: 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency’’; 

20 and 

21 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(B) TEAMS.—When evaluating an offer of 

23 a small business prime contractor that includes 

24 a proposed team of subcontractors for any mul25 tiple award contract above the substantial bunVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 10, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S958.RS S958

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1 dling threshold of the Federal agency, the head of 

2 the Federal agency shall consider the capabili3 ties, prior experience, and past performance of 

4 the prime contractor and each first tier subcon5 tractor that is part of the team as the capabili6 ties, prior experience, and past performance of 

7 the team. 

8 ‘‘(C) JOINT VENTURES.—When evaluating 

9 an offer of a joint venture of small business con10 cerns for any multiple award contract above the 

11 substantial bundling threshold of the Federal 

12 agency, if the joint venture does not have suffi13 cient capabilities, prior experience, or past per14 formance to be considered for award of a con15 tract opportunity, the head of the Federal agency 

16 shall consider the capabilities, prior experience, 

17 and past performance of each member of the 

18 joint venture as the capabilities, prior experi19 ence, and past performance of the joint venture. 

20 ‘‘(D) USE OF SMALL BUSINESS TEAMS OR

21 JOINT VENTURES.— 

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For contracts 

23 awarded under section 8(a), 8(m), 15(a), 

24 15(j), 31, or 36 to a team of small business 

25 prime contractors and subcontractors or a 


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1 joint venture of small business concerns, the 

2 contracting officer shall certify annually to 

3 the Administration, for each year the con4 tract is in effect, that each small business 

5 concern member of the team or joint venture 

6 has the same status of a small business con7 cern, small business concern owned and con8 trolled by service-disabled veterans, quali9 fied HUBZone small business concern, 

10 small business concern owned and controlled 

11 by socially and economically disadvantaged 

12 individuals, or small business concern 

13 owned and controlled by women, as appli14 cable, that such concern had at the time the 

15 contract was awarded. 

16 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—The requirements of 

17 clause (i) shall not apply to a contract 

18 awarded to a joint venture of small business 

19 concerns that is a protege under a mentor20 protege program approved pursuant to sec21 tion 45.’’. 

22 (c) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

23 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small 

24 Business Administration shall issue any regulations nec25 essary to carry out the amendments made by this section. 


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Calendar No. 106 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 958 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to provide for 

team and joint venture offers for certain contracts. 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Reported with an amendment 


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