I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1597 
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of commercial 
market representatives, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2017 
Mr. BRAT (for himself, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, and Mr. KNIGHT) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small 
Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibil-
ities of commercial market representatives, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The Commercial Mar-
ket Representatives Clarification Act’’. 
SEC. 2. RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMERCIAL MARKET REP-
RESENTATIVES. 
Section 4(h) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
633(h)) is amended— 
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(1) in the subsection heading, by striking ‘‘CER-
TIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR’’; 
(2) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively (and 
conforming the margins accordingly); 
(B) by amending clause (ii) (as so redesig-
nated) to read as follows: 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—The requirements of 
clause (i) shall be included in any initial job 
posting for the position of a commercial market 
representative and shall apply to any person ap-
pointed as a commercial market representative 
after November 25, 2015.’’; and 
(C) in clause (i) (as so redesignated), by 
striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub-
paragraph (A)’’; 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as 
subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively (and con-
forming the margins accordingly); 
(4) in subparagraph (A) (as so redesignated), 
by striking ‘‘paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara-
graph (B)’’; and 
(5) by inserting before subparagraph (A) (as so 
redesignated) the following: 
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‘‘(1) DUTIES.—The principal duties of a com-
mercial market representative employed by the Ad-
ministrator and reporting to the senior official ap-
pointed by the Administrator with responsibilities 
under sections 8, 15, 31, and 36 (or the designee of 
such official) shall be to advance the policies estab-
lished in section 8(d)(1) relating to subcontracting. 
Such duties shall include— 
‘‘(A) helping prime contractors to find 
small business concerns that are capable of per-
forming subcontracts; 
‘‘(B) for contractors awarded contracts 
containing the clause described in section 
8(d)(3), providing— 
‘‘(i) counseling on the contractor’s re-
sponsibility to maximize subcontracting op-
portunities for small business concerns; 
‘‘(ii) instruction on methods and tools 
to identify potential subcontractors that 
are small business concerns; and 
‘‘(iii) assistance to increase awards to 
subcontractors that are small business con-
cerns through visits, training, and reviews 
of past performance; 
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‘‘(C) providing counseling on how a small 
business concern may promote its capacity to 
contractors awarded contracts containing the 
clause described in section 8(d)(3); and 
‘‘(D) conducting periodic reviews of con-
tractors awarded contracts containing the 
clause described in section 8(d)(3) to assess 
compliance with subcontracting plans required 
under section 8(d)(6). 
‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—’’. 
Æ 
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