I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3184 

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and transparency in 

contracting with small business concerns. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 13, 2011 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. FILNER, 

Mr. RUSH, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. AL GREEN

of Texas, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. CONYERS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Small Business, and in addition 

to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Small Business Act to ensure fairness and 

transparency in contracting with small business concerns. 

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 ‘‘Fairness and Trans5 parency in Contracting Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act— 

3 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis4 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

5 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

6 (2) the term ‘‘parent company’’, relating to a 

7 business concern, means a person other than an in8 dividual that owns not less than 51 percent of that 

9 business concern; 

10 (3) the terms ‘‘small business concern’’, ‘‘small 

11 business concern owned and controlled by veterans’’, 

12 ‘‘small business concern owned and controlled by 

13 service-disabled veterans’’, and ‘‘small business con14 cern owned and controlled by women’’ have the 

15 meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Small 

16 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632), as amended by this 

17 Act; and 

18 (4) the term ‘‘small business concern owned 

19 and controlled by socially and economically disadvan20 taged individuals’’ has the meaning given that term 

21 in section 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 

22 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)). 

23 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

24 The purpose of this Act is to modify the definitions 

25 relating to whether a business concern qualifies as a small 

26 business concern to establish additional requirements that 


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1 ensure that no publically traded business concern, sub2 sidiary of a publically traded business concern, foreign3 owned business concern, or subsidiary of a foreign-owned 

4 business concern is considered a small business concern 

5 for the purpose of Federal Government contracting and 

6 subcontracting, including for procurement goals. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN AND 

8 STATUS REVIEW. 

9 Section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

10 632(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(6) INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In this subsection, the 

13 term ‘independently owned and operated’ does not 

14 include a business concern— 

15 ‘‘(i) that is— 

16 ‘‘(I) an issuer of a class of securities 

17 registered or that is required to be reg18 istered pursuant to section 12 of the Secu19 rities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 

20 78l) or that is required to file reports pur21 suant to section 15(d) of that Act (15 

22 U.S.C. 78o(d)); or 

23 ‘‘(II) owned by an issuer of a class of 

24 securities registered or that is required to 

25 be registered pursuant to section 12 of the 


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1 Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

2 U.S.C. 78l) or that is required to file re3 ports pursuant to section 15(d) of that Act 

4 (15 U.S.C. 78o(d)); or 

5 ‘‘(ii) more than 50 percent of which is 

6 owned, directly or indirectly, by one or more in7 dividuals that are not United States citizens. 

8 ‘‘(B) ENTITIES.—In determining ownership of 

9 a business concern, any interest in the business con10 cern that is owned by a person that is not an indi11 vidual (including a corporation, partnership, estate, 

12 or trust) shall be considered owned proportionately 

13 by or for the individuals that own that person.’’. 

14 SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall no17 tify the head of each Federal department or agency re18 garding this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

19 (b) TO CONTRACTORS.—Not later than 6 months 

20 after receiving notice under subsection (a), the head of a 

21 Federal department or agency shall notify any contractor 

22 of that department or agency regarding this Act and the 

23 amendments made by this Act. 


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1 SEC. 6. REPORTING. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

3 end of each fiscal year, the Administrator shall publish 

4 a report regarding prime contracts with the Federal Gov5 ernment awarded to business concerns that were identified 

6 as small business concerns for the purposes of achieving 

7 the small business contracting goals of the Federal Gov8 ernment during the previous fiscal year. 

9 (b) CONTENTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each report under sub11 section (a) shall, for the fiscal year before the year 

12 in which that report is published, include— 

13 (A) the name of each small business con14 cern, small business concern owned and con15 trolled by socially and economically disadvan16 taged individuals, small business concern owned 

17 and controlled by women, small business con18 cern owned and controlled by veterans, and 

19 small business concern owned and controlled by 

20 service-disabled veterans that was awarded a 

21 prime contract with the Federal Government; 

22 and 

23 (B) for each small business concern de24 scribed in subparagraph (A), the total dollar 

25 amount of prime contracts with the Federal 


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1 Government awarded to that small business 

2 concern in descending order. 

3 (2) PARENT COMPANIES.—If a small business 

4 concern described in paragraph (1)(A) has a parent 

5 company, the Administrator shall report information 

6 relating to any prime contract with the Federal Gov7 ernment of that small business concern under the 

8 name of that parent company. 

9 (c) AVAILABILITY.—The Administrator shall make 

10 each report under subsection (a) available on the Web site 

11 of the Administration in a manner that is easily accessible 

12 by members of the public. 

13 SEC. 7. LIST OF CONTRACTORS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal department and 

15 agency shall publish on the Web site of that department 

16 or agency a list of each business concern that received a 

17 contract award because that business concern was identi18 fied as a small business concern. 

19 (b) LIST CONTENTS.—A list published under sub20 section (a) shall— 

21 (1) list business concerns in the order of the 

22 total amount in dollars of contracts between the 

23 Federal Government and that business concern, be24 ginning with the largest total value; 


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1 (2) include the total amount in dollars of con2 tracts between the Federal Government and each 

3 business concern on such list; and 

4 (3) include the name of any parent company of 

5 a business concern on such list. 

6 SEC. 8. CONTRACTING DATABASES. 

7 The Administrator shall, by regulation, establish pro8 cedures to ensure that the Central Contractor Registration 

9 database and any successor database provide an adequate 

10 warning regarding criminal penalties established under 

11 section 16(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

12 645(d)) for misrepresenting the status of a business con13 cern or person in order to obtain certain contracts with 

14 the Federal Government. 

15 SEC. 9. ENFORCEMENT. 

16 (a) COMPLAINTS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person may file a com18 plaint with the Administrator and the head of the 

19 affected department or agency about the classifica20 tion of a business concern as a small business con21 cern and the Administrator and the head of the af22 fected department or agency shall resolve any com23 plaint filed under this paragraph in a timely man24 ner. 


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1 (2) REPORTS.—The Administrator shall annu2 ally submit to Congress a report describing any com3 plaints described in paragraph (1) that were filed 

4 during the relevant year and the resolution of any 

5 such complaint. 

6 (b) DEBARMENT.—The head of each Federal depart7 ment or agency shall issue or amend the contracting rules 

8 and regulations for that department or agency to ensure 

9 that a business concern shall be debarred from receiving 

10 a Federal contract for a period of not less than 5 years 

11 if that business concern— 

12 (1) fraudulently represents that it is a small 

13 business concern as part of a bid for a small busi14 ness contract with that department or agency; or 

15 (2) violates this Act or an amendment made by 

16 this Act. 

Æ 


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