Accountability in Women-Owned Small Business Contracting Act

Subjects: Commerce


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1470 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1470

  To amend the Small Business Act relating to small business concerns 
         owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 4, 2023

Ms. Ernst (for herself and Mrs. Capito) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 
                          and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Small Business Act relating to small business concerns 
         owned and controlled by women, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accountability in Women-Owned Small 
Business Contracting Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
            (2) Small business concern owned and controlled by women.--
        The term ``small business concern owned and controlled by 
        women'' has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the 
        Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

SEC. 3. ELIMINATING SELF-CERTIFICATION FOR WOMEN-OWNED SMALL 
              BUSINESSES.

    (a) Eliminating Self-Certification in Prime Contracting and 
Subcontracting for WOSBs.--
            (1) In general.--Each prime contract award and subcontract 
        award that is counted for the purpose of meeting the goals for 
        participation by small business concerns owned and controlled 
        by women in procurement contracts for Federal agencies, as 
        established in section 15(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 
        U.S.C. 644(g)(2)), shall be entered into with small business 
        concerns certified by the Administrator to meet the 
        requirements under section 3(n) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n)) 
        to be a small business concern owned and controlled by women.
            (2) Effective date.--Paragraph (1) shall take effect on 
        October 1 of the fiscal year beginning after the Administrator 
        promulgates the regulations required under subsection (c).
    (b) Phased Approach to Eliminating Self-Certification for WOSBs.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any small business concern 
that self-certified as a small business concern owned and controlled by 
women may--
            (1) if the small business concern files a certification 
        application with the Administrator before the end of the 1-year 
        period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, maintain 
        such self-certification until the Administrator makes a 
        determination with respect to such certification; and
            (2) if the small business concern does not file a 
        certification application before the end of the 1-year period 
        beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, lose, at the 
        end of such 1-year period, any self-certification of the small 
        business concern as a small business concern owned and 
        controlled by women.
    (c) Rulemaking.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate regulations 
to carry out this section.

SEC. 4. AGENCY TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS.

    Section 15(g)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(2)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(G) Remediation.--Any Federal agency failing to 
                meet the goal for participation by small business 
                concerns owned and controlled by women established 
                under paragraph (1)(B) in a fiscal year shall--
                            ``(i) submit to the Committee on Small 
                        Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and 
                        the Committee on Small Business of the House of 
                        Representatives the report required under 
                        subsection (h)(1); and
                            ``(ii) testify before the Committee on 
                        Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the 
                        Senate and the Committee on Small Business of 
                        the House of Representatives on the details of 
                        the report submitted under clause (i), in 
                        particular the justifications and remediation 
                        plan described in subparagraphs (C) and (D) of 
                        subsection (h)(1).''.

SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY REPORT.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, the 
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the head 
of any other Federal agency that the Administrator determines 
appropriate, shall submit to Congress an interagency report that--
            (1) identifies the leading economic barriers for small 
        business concerns owned and controlled by women, particularly 
        for industries underrepresented by small business concerns 
        owned and controlled by women;
            (2) includes a detailed description of the impact of 
        inflation and supply chain disruptions on small business 
        concerns owned and controlled by women during the 3-year period 
        preceding the report;
            (3) makes recommendations to improve access to capital for 
        small business concerns owned and controlled by women; and
            (4) in consultation with the Office of Federal Procurement 
        Policy, makes recommendations for increasing the number of 
        Federal contract opportunities for small business concerns 
        owned and controlled by women.
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