I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2350 
To amend the Small Business Act to foster greater transparency in and 
establish standards relating to the administration of construction con-
tracts, to provide prospective construction contractors with information 
about an agency’s policies on the administration of change orders to 
allow such contractors to make informed business decisions regarding 
the pricing of bids or proposals, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 4, 2017 
Mr. BACON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Small Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to foster greater trans-
parency in and establish standards relating to the admin-
istration of construction contracts, to provide prospective 
construction contractors with information about an agen-
cy’s policies on the administration of change orders to 
allow such contractors to make informed business deci-
sions regarding the pricing of bids or proposals, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Know- 
Before-You-Bid Construction Transparency Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION. 
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 15 the following new 
section: 
‘‘SEC. 15A. CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION. 
‘‘(a) TRANSPARENCY IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in con-
sultation with the Director of the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget, shall make available a secured 
electronic system through which each agency shall 
provide access to documents relating to each con-
struction contract administered by the agency that is 
awarded to a small business concern. 
‘‘(2) DOCUMENTS TO BE MADE AVAILABLE.— 
At minimum, the following items shall be made ac-
cessible through the secured electronic system: 
‘‘(A) A copy of any payment bond provided 
for the contract and any modification to such 
bond required by the agency. 
‘‘(B) Each payment made to the prime 
contractor, including the date of payment and 
the amount paid, specifying any amounts with-
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held from the amount requested by the prime 
contractor and a general explanation of why an 
amount was withheld. 
‘‘(3) TIMELINESS OF INCLUSION OF INFORMA-
TION.—Any item of information relating to a con-
struction contract administered by an agency shall 
be made available electronically through the secured 
electronic system described under paragraph (1) not 
later than 15 days after such item is included in the 
contract file. 
‘‘(b) SOLICITATION NOTICE REGARDING ADMINIS-
TRATION OF CHANGE ORDERS FOR CONSTRUCTION.— 
With respect to any solicitation for the award of a contract 
for construction anticipated to be awarded to a small busi-
ness concern, the agency shall provide a notice along with 
the solicitation to prospective bidders and offerors about 
the agency’s policies or practices in complying with the 
requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation relat-
ing to the timely definitization of requests for an equitable 
adjustment. Such notice shall include information about 
the agency’s past performance in definitizing requests for 
equitable adjustments, set forth separately shall be pre-
sented for each definitization action that was completed 
during the following periods: 
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‘‘(1) Not more than 30 days after receipt of a 
request for an equitable adjustment. 
‘‘(2) Not more than 45 days after receipt of a 
request for an equitable adjustment. 
‘‘(3) Not more than 90 days after receipt of a 
request for an equitable adjustment. 
‘‘(4) Not more than 180 days after receipt of 
a request for an equitable adjustment. 
‘‘(5) More than 365 days after receipt of a re-
quest for an equitable adjustment. 
‘‘(6) After the completion of the performance of 
the contract through a contract modification ad-
dressing all undefinitized requests for an equitable 
adjustment received during the term of the con-
tract.’’. 
Æ 
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