I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2882 
To amend the Small Business Act and title 38, United States Code to 
provide for a consolidated definition of a small business concern owned 
and controlled by veterans, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 31, 2013 
Mr. COFFMAN (for himself, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. MILLER of Florida, 
Mr. FLORES, Mr. HANNA, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in 
addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act and title 38, United 
States Code to provide for a consolidated definition of 
a small business concern owned and controlled by vet-
erans, 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 ‘‘Improving Opportuni-
ties for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses 
Act of 2013’’. 
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SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DEFINTION OF SMALL BUSINESS 
CONCERN CONSOLIDATED. 
Section 3(q) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
632(q)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), to read as follows: 
‘‘(2) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED AND 
CONTROLLED
BY
SERVICE-DISABLED
VETERANS.— 
The term ‘small business concern owned and con-
trolled by service-disabled veterans’ means a small 
business concern— 
‘‘(A)(i) not less than 51 percent of which 
is owned by one or more service-disabled vet-
erans or, in the case of any publicly owned busi-
ness, not less than 51 percent of the stock of 
which is owned by one or more service-disabled 
veterans; and 
‘‘(ii) the management and daily business 
operations of which are controlled by one or 
more service-disabled veterans or, in the case of 
a veteran with permanent and severe disability, 
the spouse or permanent caregiver of such vet-
eran; or 
‘‘(B) not less than 51 percent of which is 
owned by one or more veterans with service- 
connected disabilities that are permanent and 
total who are unable to manage the daily busi-
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ness operations of such concern or, in the case 
of a publicly owned business, not less than 51 
percent of the stock of which is owned by one 
or more such veterans.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) TREATMENT
OF
BUSINESSES
AFTER 
DEATH OF VETERAN-OWNER.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (C), if the death of a service-disabled vet-
eran causes a small business concern to be less 
than 51 percent owned by one or more such 
veterans, the surviving spouse of such veteran 
who acquires ownership rights in such small 
business concern shall, for the period described 
in subparagraph (B), be treated as if the sur-
viving spouse were that veteran for the purpose 
of maintaining the status of the small business 
concern as a small business concern owned and 
controlled by service-disabled veterans. 
‘‘(B) PERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period re-
ferred to in subparagraph (A) is the period be-
ginning on the date on which the service-dis-
abled veteran dies and ending on the earliest of 
the following dates: 
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‘‘(i) The date on which the surviving 
spouse remarries. 
‘‘(ii) The date on which the surviving 
spouse relinquishes an ownership interest 
in the small business concern. 
‘‘(iii) The date that is ten years after 
the date of the veteran’s death. 
‘‘(C) 
APPLICATION
TO
SURVIVING 
SPOUSE.—Subparagraph (A) only applies to a 
surviving spouse of a veteran with a service-con-
nected disability rated as 100 percent disabling 
or who dies as a result of a service-connected 
disability.’’. 
SEC. 3. VETERANS AFFAIRS DEFINITION OF SMALL BUSI-
NESS CONCERN CONSOLIDATED. 
Section 8127 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by striking subsection (h); and 
(2) in subsection (l)(2), by striking ‘‘means’’ 
and all that follows through the period at the end 
and inserting the following: ‘‘has the meaning given 
that term under section 3(q) of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)).’’. 
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SEC. 4. SBA TO ASSUME CONTROL OF VERIFICATION OF 
OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL STATUS OF AP-
PLICANTS FOR INCLUSION IN THE DATABASE 
OF SMALL BUSINESSES OWNED AND CON-
TROLLED BY SERVICE DISABLED VETERANS 
AND VETERANS. 
The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 47. VETS FIRST PROGRAM. 
‘‘Not later than 180 days after the effective date of 
this section, the Administrator shall enter into a memo-
randum of understanding with the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs that transfer control and administration of the 
program under subsections (e) through (g) of section 8127 
of title 38, United States Code, to the Administrator, con-
sistent with the following: 
‘‘(1) Not later than 270 days after completing 
the memorandum of understanding, the Adminis-
trator shall make rules to carry out the memo-
randum. If the Administrator does not make such 
rules by such date, the Administrator may not exer-
cise the authority under section 7(a)(25)(A) until 
such time as those rules are made. 
‘‘(2) The Administrator shall assume authority 
and responsibility for maintenance and operation of 
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the database and for verifications under the pro-
gram. 
‘‘(3) Any appeal by a small business concern, at 
the time that verification is denied or a contract is 
awarded, of any determination under the program 
shall be heard by the Office of Hearings and Ap-
peals of the Small Business Administration. 
‘‘(4) The Secretary shall, for a period of 6 
years commencing on a date agreed to in the com-
pleted memorandum, reimburse to the Administrator 
of the Small Business Administration any costs in-
curred by the Administrator for actions undertaken 
pursuant to the memorandum from fees collected by 
the Secretary of Veteran Affairs under multiple- 
award schedule contracts. Any disputes between the 
Secretary and the Administrator shall be resolved by 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et’’. 
SEC. 5. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. 
Section 8127(f) of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) Not later than 180 days after the effective 
date of this paragraph, the Secretary shall enter into 
a memorandum of understanding with the Adminis-
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trator of the Small Business Administration con-
sistent with section 47 of the Small Business Act.’’. 
Æ 
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