I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4897
To amend the Small Business Act to establish a program to provide Federal
contracting assistance to small business concerns owned and controlled
by women.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 19, 2000
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Mrs. KELLY, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr.
DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. GON-
ZALEZ, Mr. MOORE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. UDALL
of New Mexico, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, and Ms. BERKLEY)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Small Business
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to establish a program
to provide Federal contracting assistance to small busi-
ness concerns owned and controlled by women.
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 ‘‘Equity in Contracting
for Women Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR WOMEN’S SMALL
BUSINESS CONCERNS.
Section 8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637)
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(m) PROCUREMENT
PROGRAM
FOR
WOMEN’S
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply:
‘‘(A) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—The term
‘contracting officer’ has the meaning given such
term in section 27(f)(5) of the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423(f)(5)).
‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED
AND
CONTROLLED
BY
WOMEN.—The term
‘small business concern owned and controlled by
women’ means any small business concern—
‘‘(i) that is not less than 51 percent
owned by 1 or more women who are eco-
nomically disadvantaged; and
‘‘(ii) the management and daily busi-
ness operations of which are controlled by
1 or more women.
‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO SET ASIDE CONTRACTS.—
Notwithstanding any other provision of law and in
accordance with this subsection, a contracting officer
may set aside to be awarded only to a small business
concern owned and controlled by women any con-
tract for the procurement of goods or services by the
Federal Government, if—
‘‘(A) the concern is determined to be a re-
sponsible contractor with respect to the per-
formance of such contract;
‘‘(B) the contracting officer has a reason-
able expectation that 2 or more small business
concerns owned and controlled by women will
submit offers for the contract;
‘‘(C) the contract is for the procurement of
goods or services with respect to an industry
identified by the Administrator pursuant to
paragraph (3);
‘‘(D) the anticipated award price of the
contract (including options) does not exceed—
‘‘(i) $5,000,000, in the case of a con-
tract assigned a standard industrial classi-
fication code for manufacturing; or
‘‘(ii) $3,000,000, in the case of all
other contracts;
‘‘(E) in the estimation of the contracting
officer, the contract award can be made at a
fair and reasonable price; and
‘‘(F) the concern—
‘‘(i) is certified as a small business
concern owned and controlled by women by
a Federal agency or by a State or local
government; or
‘‘(ii) certifies to the contracting officer
that it is a small business concern owned
and controlled by women and provides ade-
quate documentation, in accordance with
standards established by the Administra-
tion, to support such certification.
‘‘(3) IDENTIFICATION
OF
INDUSTRIES.—The
Administrator shall conduct a study to identify in-
dustries in which small business concerns owned and
controlled by women are underrepresented with re-
spect to Federal procurement contracting.
‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT; PENALTIES.—
‘‘(A) VERIFICATION
OF
ELIGIBILITY.—In
carrying out this subsection, the Administrator
shall establish procedures relating to—
‘‘(i) the filing, investigation, and dis-
position by the Administration of any chal-
lenge to the eligibility of a small business
concern to receive assistance under this
subsection (including a challenge, filed by
an interested party, relating to the veracity
of a certification made or information pro-
vided to the Administration by a small
business concern under paragraph (2)(F));
and
‘‘(ii) verification by the Administrator
of the accuracy of any certification made
or information provided to the Administra-
tion by a small business concern under
paragraph (2)(F).
‘‘(B) EXAMINATIONS.—The procedures es-
tablished under subparagraph (A) may provide
for program examinations (including random
program examinations) by the Administrator of
any small business concern making a certifi-
cation or providing information to the Adminis-
trator under paragraph (2)(F).
‘‘(C) PROVISION OF DATA.—Upon the re-
quest of the Administrator, the Secretary of
Labor, the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development, and the Secretary of the Interior
(or the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs),
shall promptly provide to the Administrator
such information as the Administrator deter-
mines to be necessary to carry out this sub-
section.
‘‘(D) PENALTIES.—In addition to the pen-
alties described in section 16(d), any small busi-
ness concern that is determined by the Admin-
istrator to have misrepresented the status of
that concern as a small business concern owned
and controlled by women for purposes of this
subsection, shall be subject to—
‘‘(i) section 1001 of title 18, United
States Code; and
‘‘(ii) sections 3729 through 3733 of
title 31, United States Code.’’.
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