110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1873 
AN ACT 
To reauthorize the programs and activities of the Small 
Business Administration relating to procurement, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Regulations. 
TITLE I—CONTRACT BUNDLING 
Sec. 101. Definitions of bundling of contract requirements and related terms. 
Sec. 102. Justification. 
Sec. 103. Appeals. 
Sec. 104. Review. 
TITLE II—INCREASING THE NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS 
CONTRACTS AND SUBCONTRACTS 
Sec. 201. Small business goal. 
Sec. 202. Include overseas contracts in small business goal. 
Sec. 203. Annual goal negotiation. 
Sec. 204. Usage of small companies in goal achievement. 
Sec. 205. Annual plan for each agency explaining how agency will meet small 
business goals. 
Sec. 206. Making small businesses the first choice. 
Sec. 207. Uniform metric for subcontracting achievements. 
Sec. 208. Subcontracting database. 
Sec. 209. National database. 
Sec. 210. Review of subcontracting plans. 
Sec. 211. Agency obligation for fulfilling contracting goals. 
Sec. 212. Appropriate limits on value of sole source contracts. 
Sec. 213. Small business goals for green small business concerns. 
Sec. 214. Study on providing financial incentives to contractors that meet mi-
nority and disadvantaged business enterprise goals. 
TITLE III—PROTECTION OF TAXPAYERS FROM FRAUD 
Sec. 301. Small business size protest notification. 
Sec. 302. Review of national registry. 
Sec. 303. Recertification of compliance with size standards and registration with 
Central Contractor Registry. 
TITLE IV—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 
Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. REGULATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act—
(1) the Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall promulgate regulations to im-
plement this Act and the amendments made by this 
Act; and 
(2) the Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be 
revised to implement this Act and the amendments 
made by this Act. 
(b) NOTICE
AND COMMENT.—The regulations re-
quired by subsection (a) shall be promulgated after oppor-
tunity for notice and comment as required by section 
553(b) of title 5, United States Code. 
TITLE I—CONTRACT BUNDLING 
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT RE-
QUIREMENTS AND RELATED TERMS. 
Section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632) 
is amended by amending subsection (o) to read as follows: 
‘‘(o) DEFINITIONS OF BUNDLING OF CONTRACT RE-
QUIREMENTS AND RELATED TERMS.—For purposes of 
this Act: 
‘‘(1) BUNDLED CONTRACT.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘bundled 
contract’ means a contract or order that is en-
tered into to meet procurement requirements 
that are consolidated in a bundling of contract 
requirements, without regard to its designation
by the procuring agency or whether a study of 
the effects of the solicitation on civilian or mili-
tary personnel has been made. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—The term does not in-
clude— 
‘‘(i) a contract or order with an aggre-
gate dollar value below the dollar threshold 
specified in paragraph (4); or 
‘‘(ii) a contract or order that is en-
tered into to meet procurement require-
ments, all of which are exempted require-
ments under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(2) 
BUNDLING
OF
CONTRACT
REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘bundling of 
contract requirements’ means the use of any 
bundling methodology to satisfy 2 or more pro-
curement requirements for goods or services 
previously supplied or performed under separate 
smaller contracts or orders, or to satisfy 2 or 
more procurement requirements for construc-
tion services of a type historically performed 
under separate smaller contracts or orders, that 
is likely to be unsuitable for award to a small 
business concern due to—
‘‘(i) the diversity, size, or specialized 
nature of the elements of the performance 
specified; 
‘‘(ii) the aggregate dollar value of the 
anticipated award; 
‘‘(iii) the geographical dispersion of 
the contract or order performance sites; or 
‘‘(iv) any combination of the factors 
described in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii). 
‘‘(B) INCLUSION
OF
NEW
FEATURES
OR 
FUNCTIONS.—A combination of contract re-
quirements that would meet the definition of a 
bundling of contract requirements but for the 
addition of a procurement requirement with at 
least one new good or service shall be consid-
ered to be a bundling of contract requirements 
unless the new features or functions substan-
tially transform the goods or services and will 
provide measurably substantial benefits to the 
government in terms of quality, performance, or 
price. 
‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—The term does not in-
clude— 
‘‘(i) the use of a bundling method-
ology for an anticipated award with an ag-
gregate dollar value below the dollar 
threshold specified in paragraph (5); or 
‘‘(ii) the use of a bundling method-
ology to meet procurement requirements, 
all of which are exempted requirements 
under paragraph (6). 
‘‘(3) BUNDLING
METHODOLOGY.—The term 
‘bundling methodology’ means— 
‘‘(A) a solicitation to obtain offers for a 
single contract or order, or a multiple award 
contract or order; or 
‘‘(B) a solicitation of offers for the 
issuance of a task or a delivery order under an 
existing single or multiple award contract or 
order. 
‘‘(4) SEPARATE
SMALLER
CONTRACT.—The 
term ‘separate smaller contract’, with respect to 
bundling of contract requirements, means a contract 
or order that has been performed by 1 or more small 
business concerns or was suitable for award to 1 or 
more small business concerns. 
‘‘(5) DOLLAR THRESHOLD.—The term ‘dollar 
threshold’ means $65,000,000, if solely for construc-
tion services.
‘‘(6) EXEMPTED
REQUIREMENTS.—The term 
‘exempted requirement’ means a procurement re-
quirement solely for items that are not commercial 
items (as the term ‘commercial item’ is defined in 
section 4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement 
Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(12)). 
‘‘(7) PROCUREMENT REQUIREMENT.—The term 
‘procurement requirement’ means a determination 
by an agency that a specified good or service is 
needed to satisfy the mission of the agency.’’. 
SEC. 102. JUSTIFICATION. 
Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(a)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘(2) why delivery schedules’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(2) the names, addresses and size of 
the incumbent contract holders; (3) a description of 
the industries that might be interested in bidding on 
the contract requirements; (4) the number of small 
businesses listed in the industry categories that 
could be excluded from future bidding if the contract 
is combined or packaged; (5) why delivery sched-
ules’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘(3) why the proposed acquisi-
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘(6) why the proposed acquisi-
tion’’;
(3) by striking ‘‘(4) why construction’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(7) why construction’’; 
(4) by striking ‘‘(5) why the agency’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(8) why the agency’’; 
(5) by striking ‘‘justified.’’ and inserting ‘‘justi-
fied. The statement shall also set forth the proposed 
procurement strategy required by subsection (e) and, 
if applicable, the specifications required by sub-
section (e)(3). The statement shall be made available 
to the public, including through dissemination in the 
Federal contracting opportunities database, concur-
rently with the issuance of the solicitation.’’; and 
(6) by inserting after ‘‘prime contracting oppor-
tunities.’’ the following: ‘‘If no notification of the 
procurement and accompanying statement is re-
ceived, but the Administrator determines that there 
is cause to believe the contract combines require-
ments or a contract (single or multiple award) or 
task or delivery order for construction services or in-
cludes unjustified bundling, then the Administrator 
may request that such a statement of work goods or 
services be completed by the procurement activity 
and sent to the Procurement Center Representative 
and the solicitation process postponed for 10 days to 
allow the Administrator to review the statement and
make recommendations as described in this section 
before the procurement is continued.’’. 
SEC. 103. APPEALS. 
Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(a)) is amended by inserting before ‘‘Whenever the Ad-
ministration and the contracting procurement agency fail 
to agree,’’ the following: ‘‘If a small business concern 
would be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by the 
procurement as proposed, and that small business concern 
or a trade association on behalf of that small business con-
cern so requests, the Administrator may, in the Adminis-
trator’s discretion, take action to further the interests of 
that small business concern, and shall make available to 
the public on the website of the Administration the action 
taken and the result achieved.’’. 
SEC. 104. REVIEW. 
Section 15(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(a)) is amended by striking the sentence beginning 
‘‘Whenever the Administration and the contracting pro-
curement agency fail to agree,’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: ‘‘Whenever the Administration and the contracting 
procurement agency fail to agree, the Administrator shall 
submit the matter to the head of the agency for a deter-
mination. The head of the agency shall provide a written 
response to the Administrator. A copy of such response
shall also be provided to the Committees on Small Busi-
ness of the House of Representatives and Senate, the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
House of Representatives, and the Committee on Home-
land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, 
and any other committee of the House and Senate that 
has jurisdiction over the agency concerned.’’. 
TITLE 
II—INCREASING 
THE 
NUMBER OF SMALL BUSINESS 
CONTRACTS 
AND 
SUB-
CONTRACTS 
SEC. 201. SMALL BUSINESS GOAL. 
(a) GOVERNMENT-WIDE GOAL.—Section 15(g)(1) of 
the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended 
by striking ‘‘23 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘30 percent’’. 
(b) GOALS
FOR
SMALL
DISADVANTAGED
BUSI-
NESSES
AND
WOMEN-OWNED
BUSINESSES.—Section 
15(g)(1) of such Act is further amended by striking ‘‘5 
percent’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘8 percent’’. 
SEC. 202. INCLUDE OVERSEAS CONTRACTS IN SMALL BUSI-
NESS GOAL. 
Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) The procurement goals required by this sub-
section apply to all procurement contracts, without regard
to whether the contract is for work within or outside the 
United States.’’. 
SEC. 203. ANNUAL GOAL NEGOTIATION. 
Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 644(g)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘The President 
shall annually establish Government-wide goals for pro-
curement contracts’’ and inserting ‘‘The President shall 
before the close of each fiscal year establish new Govern-
ment-wide procurement goals for the following fiscal year 
for procurement contracts’’. 
SEC. 204. USAGE OF SMALL COMPANIES IN GOAL ACHIEVE-
MENT. 
Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection and subsection 
(h), a small business concern shall be counted toward one 
additional category goal only, even if that small business 
concern otherwise qualifies under more than one category 
goal. In this paragraph, the term ‘category goal’ means 
a goal described in paragraph (2).’’. 
SEC. 205. ANNUAL PLAN FOR EACH AGENCY EXPLAINING 
HOW AGENCY WILL MEET SMALL BUSINESS 
GOALS. 
Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(5) Before the beginning of each fiscal year, the 
head of each Federal agency shall submit to the Adminis-
trator of the Small Business Administration and to Con-
gress a detailed plan explaining how the agency intends 
to meet the small business goals under this subsection that 
apply to that agency for that fiscal year.’’. 
SEC. 206. MAKING SMALL BUSINESSES THE FIRST CHOICE. 
Section 15(j) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644(j)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘$100,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘the Simplified Acquisition Thresh-
old’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘subsection 
(a) of section 8’’ and inserting ‘‘section 8, 31, or 
36’’. 
SEC. 
207. 
UNIFORM 
METRIC 
FOR 
SUBCONTRACTING 
ACHIEVEMENTS. 
Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(12) In carrying out this subsection, the Adminis-
trator shall require each prime contractor to report small 
business subcontract usage at all tiers based on the per-
centage of the total dollar amount of the contract award.’’.
SEC. 208. SUBCONTRACTING DATABASE. 
Section 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
637(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(13) In carrying out this subsection, the Adminis-
trator shall develop and maintain a password-protected 
database that will enable the Administration to assist 
small businesses in marketing to large corporations that 
have not achieved their small business goals.’’. 
SEC. 209. NATIONAL DATABASE. 
The Administrator of the Small Business Administra-
tion shall ensure that whenever a small business enters 
its information in the Central Contractor Registry, or any 
successor to that registry, the Administrator contacts that 
business within 30 days regarding the likelihood of Fed-
eral contracting opportunities. The Administrator shall 
ensure that each small business that so registers is, for 
each industry code entered by that small business, pro-
vided with the total dollar value of government contract 
awards to small businesses for that industry. 
SEC. 210. REVIEW OF SUBCONTRACTING PLANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the General Services 
Administration shall, after an opportunity for notice and 
comment, begin to make modifications, if necessary, to the 
Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (ESRS) for 
the purpose of tracking companies’ compliance with small
business subcontracting plans included in successful con-
tract bids. ESRS shall be further developed, if necessary, 
in such a way that it allows agencies to track whether or 
not the prime contractor actually subcontracted work out 
to the subcontracting firms described in the Small Busi-
ness Subcontracting Plan. Further, ESRS shall be modi-
fied, if necessary, so that it facilitates review of a com-
pany’s record of compliance with small business subcon-
tracting plans. 
(b) PERIODIC REPORTS.—Prime contractors shall be 
required to submit Small Business Subcontracting Plans 
to ESRS and submit subsequent periodic reports to ESRS 
describing the extent to which the prime contractor com-
plied with small business subcontracting plans submitted 
as part of the company’s successful contract proposal. 
Each such report shall include a specific accounting of 
compliance with subcontracting goals described in the 
prime contractor’s Small Business Subcontracting Plans 
related to Small Disadvantaged Businesses Concerns, 
Women-Owned Small Business Concerns, Historically 
Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions, 
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Con-
cerns, and HUBZone Small Business Concerns. Each 
such accounting of compliance shall also be included in 
ESRS.