I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2357

To amend the Small Business Act to assist the development of small business

concerns owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 9, 1993

Mr. LAFALCE (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, and Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small

Business

A BILL

To amend the Small Business Act to assist the development

of small business concerns owned and controlled by

women, 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 ‘‘Women’s Business

5 Procurement Assistance Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. GOAL SETTING.

7 Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.

8 644(g)) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘, small busi2 ness concerns owned and controlled by women,’’

3 after ‘‘small business concerns’’ the first place it ap4 pears in the first sentence and the first place it ap5 pears in the fourth sentence;

6 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2) by in7 serting ‘‘by small business concerns owned and con8 trolled by women,’’ after ‘‘small business concerns,’’;

9 (3) in the second sentence of paragraph (2) by

10 inserting ‘‘, small business concerns owned and con11 trolled by women,’’ after ‘‘small business concerns’’

12 the first place it appears; and

13 (4) in the fourth sentence of paragraph (2) by

14 inserting ‘‘small business concerns owned and con15 trolled by women and’’ after ‘‘including participation

16 by’’.

17 SEC. 3. REPORTING.

18 Section 15(h) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.

19 644(h)) is amended—

20 (1) by inserting ‘‘, small business concerns

21 owned and controlled by women,’’ after ‘‘small busi22 ness concerns’’ the first place it appears in para23 graph (1), the first place it appears in paragraph

24 (2)(A), and the first place it appears in paragraph

25 (2)(D);
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1 (2) in paragraph (1) by inserting ‘‘and sub2 contracts’’ after ‘‘contracts’’;

3 (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (1) the

4 following new sentence: ‘‘The Administration shall

5 submit to the Committee on Small Business of the

6 Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the

7 House of Representatives information obtained from

8 such reports, together with appropriate comments.’’;

9 and

10 (4) in paragraph (2)(F) by striking ‘‘women11 owned small business enterprises’’ and inserting

12 ‘‘small business concerns owned and controlled by

13 women’’.

14 SEC. 4. SUBCONTRACTING.

15 (a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—Section 8(d)(1) of the

16 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)(1)) is amended—

17 (1) in the first sentence by inserting ‘‘small

18 business concerns owned and controlled by women,’’

19 after ‘‘small business concerns,’’; and

20 (2) in the second sentence by inserting ‘‘, small

21 business concerns owned and controlled by women,’’

22 after ‘‘small business concerns’’ the first place it

23 appears.
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1 (b) CONTRACT CLAUSE.—The contract clause speci2 fied in section 8(d)(3) of the Small Business Act (15

3 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)) is amended as follows:

4 (1) Subparagraph (A) of such clause is amend5 ed by inserting ‘‘, small business concerns owned

6 and controlled by women,’’ after ‘‘small business

7 concerns’’ the first place it appears in the first sen8 tence and the first place it appears in the second

9 sentence.

10 (2) Subparagraph (C) of such clause is amend11 ed to read as follows:

12 ‘‘(C)(i) As used in this contract, the term ‘small

13 business concern’ means a small business concern as

14 defined pursuant to section 3 of the Small Business

15 Act and relevant regulations promulgated pursuant

16 thereto.

17 ‘‘(ii) As used in this contract, the term ‘small

18 business concern owned and controlled by socially

19 and economically disadvantaged individuals’ means a

20 small business concern—

21 ‘‘(I) which is at least 51 percent owned by

22 one or more socially and economically disadvan23 taged individuals; or, in the case of any publicly

24 owned business, at least 51 percent of the stock
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1 of which is owned by one or more socially and

2 economically disadvantaged individuals; and

3 ‘‘(II) whose management and daily busi4 ness operations are controlled by one or more of

5 such individuals.

6 The contractor shall presume that socially and eco7 nomically disadvantaged individuals include Black

8 Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans,

9 Asian Pacific Americans, and other minorities, or

10 any other individual found to be disadvantaged by

11 the Administration pursuant to section 8(a) of the

12 Small Business Act.

13 ‘‘(iii) As used in this contract, the term ‘small

14 business concern owned and controlled by women’

15 means a small business concern—

16 ‘‘(I) which is at least 51 percent owned by

17 one or more women; or, in the case of any pub18 licly owned business, at least 51 percent of the

19 stock of which is owned by one or more women;

20 and

21 ‘‘(II) whose management and daily busi22 ness operations are controlled by such women.

23 The contractor shall presume that women have been

24 subjected to gender based discrimination and may

25 determine whether a small business concern meets
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1 the percentage requirements under subclause (I)

2 without regard to the community property laws of

3 any jurisdiction.’’.

4 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 8(d) of

5 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) is amended

6 by inserting ‘‘, small business concerns owned and con7 trolled by women,’’ after ‘‘small business concerns’’ the

8 first place it appears in paragraphs (3)(D), (4)(D),

9 (4)(E), (6)(A), (6)(C), (6)(F), (10)(B), and (11).

10 (d) EXCLUSION.—No business concern shall be

11 deemed eligible for any contract or other assistance pursu12 ant to section 2323 of title 10, United States Code, due

13 solely to the provisions of this section.

14 SEC. 5. WOMEN-IN-BUSINESS SPECIALISTS.

15 Section 15(k) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.

16 644(k)) is amended—

17 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(k)’’;

18 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3),

19 (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), and (9) as subparagraphs (A),

20 (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), (H), and (I), respec21 tively;

22 (3) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara23 graph (H) (as redesignated);

24 (4) in subparagraph (I) (as redesignated), by

25 striking out the period after ‘‘Code’’ and all that fol-
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1 lows through ‘‘shall be made’’ and inserting in lieu

2 thereof a comma, and by striking the period after

3 ‘‘contract file’’ and inserting ‘‘, and’’;

4 (5) by inserting after subparagraph (I) (as re5 designated) the following new subparagraph:

6 ‘‘(J) subject to paragraph (2)(A), designate an

7 employee of such office to be a women-in-business

8 specialist responsible for the implementation and

9 execution of programs designed to assist small busi10 ness concerns owned and controlled by women.’’;

11 (6) by designating the last sentence as para12 graph (2); and

13 (7) by adding at the end the following new

14 paragraph:

15 ‘‘(3)(A) The Director of Small and Disadvantaged

16 Business Utilization in a Federal agency shall ensure that

17 the women-in-business specialist designated pursuant to

18 paragraph (1)(J) has sufficient knowledge of small busi19 ness concerns owned and controlled by women and the

20 Federal procurement process, other appropriate qualifica21 tions, and appropriate training from the Office of Wom22 en’s Business Ownership to effectively carry out the spe23 cialist’s responsibilities under this Act.

24 ‘‘(B) Each women-in-business specialist designated

25 pursuant to paragraph (1)(J) in a Federal agency shall
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1 work full time to initiate and execute programs to assist

2 small business concerns owned and controlled by women

3 in participating in the performance of contracts let by the

4 agency. The specialist shall—

5 ‘‘(i) respond to requests from small business

6 concerns owned and controlled by women;

7 ‘‘(ii) identify and solicit offers from small busi8 ness concerns owned and controlled by women, as

9 required under section 15(p) of this Act, through

10 means such as sending solicitation packages to such

11 concerns for each proposed contract for which such

12 concerns may be eligible to compete and holding

13 workshops on procurement for such concerns; and

14 ‘‘(iii) regularly monitor the agency’s progress

15 toward meeting the annual goal established under

16 subsection (g) for participation by small business

17 concerns owned and controlled by women.’’.

18 SEC. 6. OUTREACH.

19 Section 15 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644)

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub21 section:

22 ‘‘(p) Each Federal agency having procurement pow23 ers shall engage in affirmative efforts to identify and so24 licit offers from small business concerns owned and con25 trolled by women and the small business concerns owned
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1 and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged

2 individuals. To the maximum extent practicable, a rep3 resentative number of such concerns shall receive solicita4 tion packages for each proposed acquisition for which such

5 concerns may be eligible to compete.’’.

6 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF WOMEN’S

7 BUSINESS OWNERSHIP.

8 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is

9 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

10 ‘‘SEC. 28. OFFICE OF WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP.

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

12 Small Business Administration the Office of Women’s

13 Business Ownership (hereinafter in this section referred

14 to as the ‘Office’).

15 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.—The Director of the Office (herein16 after in this section referred to as the ‘Director’) shall be

17 appointed by the Administrator not later than sixty days

18 after the date of the enactment of this section.

19 ‘‘(c) FUNCTIONS.—The Director shall perform the

20 following functions:

21 ‘‘(1) Promote, coordinate, and monitor the

22 plans, programs, and operations of Federal depart23 ments and agencies which may contribute to the es24 tablishment, preservation, and strengthening of

25 small business concerns owned and controlled by
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1 women. The Director may, as appropriate, develop

2 comprehensive interagency plans and specific pro3 gram goals for small business concerns owned and

4 controlled by women with the cooperation of the

5 departments and agencies.

6 ‘‘(2) Establish policies, definitions, procedures,

7 and guidelines to govern the implementation, inter8 pretation, and application of this section, and gen9 erally perform such functions and take such steps as

10 the Director may consider to be necessary or appro11 priate to carry out this section.

12 ‘‘(3) Promote the mobilization of activities and

13 resources of State and local governments, business

14 and trade associations, private industry, colleges and

15 universities, foundations, professional organizations,

16 and volunteer and other groups toward the growth

17 of small business concerns owned and controlled by

18 women, and facilitate the coordination of the efforts

19 of such groups with those of Federal departments

20 and agencies.

21 ‘‘(4) Make an annual assessment of the

22 progress made in the Federal Government toward

23 assisting small business concerns owned and con24 trolled by women to enter the mainstream of busi-
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1 ness ownership and provide recommendations for fu2 ture actions to the Administrator.

3 ‘‘(5) Convene and consult (as necessary) with

4 persons inside and outside government to develop

5 and promote new ideas concerning the development

6 of small business concerns owned and controlled by

7 women.

8 ‘‘(6) Consider the findings and recommenda9 tions of government and private sector investigations

10 and studies of the problems of women entrepreneurs,

11 and promote further research into such problems.

12 ‘‘(7) Monitor the contracting and subcontract13 ing performance of each department, agency, and

14 business enterprise participating under this section.

15 ‘‘(8) Promote access and participation for small

16 business concerns owned and controlled by women to

17 a fair proportion of the broad array of purchases

18 and contracts for property and services for the Fed19 eral Government.

20 ‘‘(9) Provide training as needed to women-in21 business specialists designated pursuant to section

22 15(k)(1)(J) to carry out their responsibilities under

23 this Act.’’.
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1 SEC. 8. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE REPORT.

2 (a) REPORT REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 3 years

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptrol4 ler General shall submit to Congress a report comparing

5 the number of small business concerns owned and con6 trolled by women procuring Federal contracts during the

7 year preceding the date of the enactment of this Act with

8 the number of such businesses during each of the 3 years

9 occurring after such date. If the number of such busi10 nesses did not increase significantly by the end of the 3-

11 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this

12 Act, the Comptroller General shall include in the report

13 recommendations on actions that could be taken to

14 increase the number.

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—If the report required

16 under subsection (a) shows that the number of small busi17 ness concerns owned and controlled by women did not in18 crease significantly by the end of the 3-year period begin19 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, it is the

20 sense of Congress that further legislative steps should be

21 taken to ensure that the number of Federal contracts en22 tered into with small business concerns owned and con23 trolled by women realistically reflects the potential of such

24 business concerns to perform Federal contracting and sub25 contracting work.

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