IIB 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1460
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JUNE 25, 2003
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
AN ACT 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve education 
and entrepreneurship benefits, housing benefits, and cer-
tain other benefits for veterans, 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 ‘‘Veterans Entrepre-
neurship and Benefits Improvement Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR STATE APPROVING AGENCIES 
TO APPROVE CERTAIN ENTREPRENEURSHIP 
COURSES. 
(a) APPROVAL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSES.—
Section 3675 of title 38, United States Code, is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(c)(1) A State approving agency may approve the 
entrepreneurship courses offered by a qualified provider 
of entrepreneurship courses. 
‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘entre-
preneurship course’ means a non-degree, non-credit course 
of business education that enables or assists a person to 
start or enhance a small business enterprise. 
‘‘(3) Subsection (a) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
subsection (b) do not apply to— 
‘‘(A) an entrepreneurship course offered by a 
qualified provider of entrepreneurship courses; and 
‘‘(B) a qualified provider of entrepreneurship 
courses by reason of such provider offering one or 
more entrepreneurship courses.’’. 
(b) BUSINESS OWNERS NOT TREATED AS ALREADY 
QUALIFIED.—Section 3471 of such title is amended by in-
serting before the last sentence the following: ‘‘The Sec-
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retary shall not treat a person as already qualified for the 
objective of a program of education offered by a qualified 
provider of entrepreneurship courses solely because such 
person is the owner or operator of a business.’’. 
(c) INCLUSION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSES IN 
DEFINITION OF PROGRAM OF EDUCATION.—Subsection 
(b) of section 3452 of such title is amended by adding 
at the end the following: ‘‘Such term also includes any 
course, or combination of courses, offered by a qualified 
provider of entrepreneurship courses.’’. 
(d) INCLUSION OF QUALIFIED PROVIDER OF ENTRE-
PRENEURSHIP
COURSES
IN
DEFINITION
OF
EDU-
CATIONAL INSTITUTION.—Subsection (c) of section 3452 
of such title is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘Such term also includes any qualified provider 
of entrepreneurship courses.’’. 
(e) DEFINITION OF QUALIFIED PROVIDER OF EN-
TREPRENEURSHIP COURSES.—Section 3452 of such title 
is further amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(h) The term ‘qualified provider of entrepreneurship 
courses’ means—
‘‘(1) a small business development center de-
scribed in section 21 of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 648), and
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‘‘(2) the National Veterans Business Develop-
ment Corporation (established under section 33 of 
such Act (15 U.S.C. 657c)) insofar as the Corpora-
tion offers or sponsors an entrepreneurship course 
(as defined in section 3675(c)(2) of this title).’’. 
(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to courses approved by State ap-
proving agencies after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
SEC. 3. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR CERTIFIED SMALL 
BUSINESS 
CONCERNS 
OWNED 
AND 
CON-
TROLLED BY QUALIFIED SERVICE-DISABLED 
VETERANS, ETC. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
PROGRAM.—The Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by redes-
ignating section 36 as section 38 and by inserting after 
section 35 the following new sections: 
‘‘SEC. 36. PROCUREMENT PROGRAM FOR CERTIFIED SMALL 
BUSINESS 
CONCERNS 
OWNED 
AND 
CON-
TROLLED BY QUALIFIED SERVICE-DISABLED 
VETERANS. 
‘‘(a) SOLE SOURCE CONTRACTS.—In accordance with 
this section, a contracting officer may award a sole source 
contract to any certified small business concern owned and 
controlled by qualified service-disabled veterans if—
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‘‘(1) such concern is determined to be a respon-
sible contractor with respect to performance of such 
contract opportunity and the contracting officer does 
not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more 
certified small business concerns owned and con-
trolled by qualified service-disabled veterans will sub-
mit offers for the contracting opportunity; 
‘‘(2) the anticipated award price of the contract 
(including options) will not exceed—
‘‘(A) $5,000,000, in the case of a contract 
opportunity assigned a standard industrial clas-
sification code for manufacturing; or 
‘‘(B) $3,000,000, in the case of any other 
contract opportunity; and 
‘‘(3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 
the contract award can be made at a fair and rea-
sonable price. 
‘‘(b) RESTRICTED
COMPETITION.—In accordance 
with this section, a contracting officer may award con-
tracts on the basis of competition restricted to certified 
small business concerns owned and controlled by qualified 
service-disabled veterans if the contracting officer has a 
reasonable expectation that not less than 2 certified small 
business concerns owned and controlled by qualified serv-
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ice-disabled veterans will submit offers and that the award 
can be made at a fair market price. 
‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT; PENALTIES.—Rules similar to 
the rules of section 31(c) shall apply for purposes of this 
section. 
‘‘(d) COLLECTION
OF DATA REGARDING SMALL 
BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED
AND CONTROLLED
BY 
SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.—
‘‘(1) SURVEY.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this section and each 3 
years thereafter, the Administrator, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall com-
plete a survey of service-disabled veterans receiving 
benefits under title 38, United States Code, to deter-
mine the number, identity, and primary industry 
classification of small business concerns owned and 
controlled by service-disabled veterans. 
‘‘(2) REPORT
TO CONGRESS.—The Adminis-
trator, in consultation with the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs, shall report to Congress on the results 
of each survey conducted under paragraph (1). Such 
report shall include the total number of small busi-
ness concerns owned and controlled by service-dis-
abled veterans.
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‘‘(e) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—For purposes of this 
section and section 37, 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)). 
‘‘SEC. 37. PRIORITY OF SMALL BUSINESS PROCUREMENT 
PREFERENCES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A contracting officer may not 
make a procurement from a source on the basis of a pref-
erence provided under any provision of this Act referred 
to in subsection (b) unless the contracting officer has de-
termined that such procurement cannot be made on the 
basis of a preference provided under another provision of 
this Act with a higher priority under such subsection. 
‘‘(b) ORDER OF PRIORITY.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the following provisions of this Act are listed in order 
of priority from highest to lowest: 
‘‘(1) Section 8(a). 
‘‘(2) Section 36(b). 
‘‘(3) Section 36(a). 
‘‘(4) Section 31(b)(2)(B). 
‘‘(5) Section 31(b)(2)(A). 
‘‘(6) Section 8(m). 
‘‘(c) PRIORITY OF CERTAIN OTHER PROCUREMENT 
PREFERENCES.—A procurement may not be made from
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a source on the basis of a preference provided under any 
provision of this Act referred to in subsection (b) if the 
procurement would otherwise by made from a different 
source under section 4124 or 4125 of title 18, United 
States Code, or the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act (41 U.S.C. 
46 et seq.).’’. 
(b) CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED 
AND CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.—
Subsection (q) of section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 632) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) CERTIFIED
SMALL
BUSINESS
CONCERN 
OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY QUALIFIED SERVICE-
DISABLED VETERANS.—
‘‘(A) QUALIFIED SERVICE-DISABLED VET-
ERAN.—The term ‘qualified service-disabled vet-
eran’ means any veteran who—
‘‘(i) has one or more disabilities that 
are service-connected (as defined in section 
101(16) of title 38, United States Code) 
and rated at 10 percent or more by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or 
‘‘(ii) is entitled to benefits under sec-
tion 1151 of title 38, United States Code.
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‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN OWNED 
AND CONTROLLED BY QUALIFIED SERVICE-DIS-
ABLED VETERANS.—The term ‘small business 
concern owned and controlled by qualified serv-
ice-disabled veterans’ means a small business 
concern—
‘‘(i) not less than 51 percent of which 
is owned by one or more qualified service-
disabled veterans or, in the case of any 
publicly owned business, not less than 51 
percent of the stock of which is owned by 
one or more qualified service-disabled vet-
erans; and 
‘‘(ii) the management and daily busi-
ness operations of which are controlled by 
one or more qualified service-disabled vet-
erans or, in the case of a veteran with per-
manent and severe disability, the spouse or 
permanent caregiver of such veteran. 
‘‘(C) CERTIFIED
SMALL
BUSINESS
CON-
CERN OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY QUALIFIED 
SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.—The term ‘cer-
tified small business concern owned and con-
trolled by qualified service-disabled veterans’ 
means any small business concern owned and
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controlled by qualified service-disabled veterans 
that is certified by the Administrator as being 
such a concern.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Paragraph (2) of 
section 31(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
657a(b)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of law’’ and inserting ‘‘In accordance with this 
section’’; 
(2) in subparagraph (B)—
(A) by striking ‘‘a contract opportunity 
shall be awarded pursuant to this section’’ and 
inserting ‘‘a contracting officer may award con-
tracts’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end and in-
serting a period; and 
(3) by striking subparagraph (C). 
(d) DEPARTMENT
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PILOT 
PROGRAM.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a contracting 
officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 
provisions of the Small Business Act referred to in 
paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 37(b) of such 
Act shall be treated as being equal in priority for 
purposes of applying section 37 of such Act.
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(2) TERMINATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply with respect to procurements made after Sep-
tember 30, 2007. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION TO PROVIDE ADAPTED HOUSING 
ASSISTANCE TO CERTAIN DISABLED MEM-
BERS OF THE ARMED FORCES WHO REMAIN 
ON ACTIVE DUTY. 
Section 2101 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(c)(1) The Secretary may provide assistance under 
subsection (a) to a member of the Armed Forces serving 
on active duty who is suffering from a disability described 
in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of that subsection if such 
disability is the result of an injury incurred or disease con-
tracted in or aggravated in line of duty in the active mili-
tary, naval, or air service. Such assistance shall be pro-
vided to the same extent as assistance is provided under 
that subsection to veterans eligible for assistance under 
that subsection and subject to the requirements of the sec-
ond sentence of that subsection. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary may provide assistance under 
subsection (b) to a member of the Armed Forces serving 
on active duty who is suffering from a disability described 
in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) of that sub-
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section if such disability is the result of an injury incurred 
or disease contracted in or aggravated in line of duty in 
the active military, naval, or air service. Such assistance 
shall be provided to the same extent as assistance is pro-
vided under such subsection to veterans eligible for assist-
ance under that subsection and subject to the require-
ments of paragraph (2) of that subsection.’’. 
SEC. 5. REINSTATEMENT OF MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS 
FOR SALE OF VENDEE LOANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3733(a) of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (2) and redesignating 
paragraphs (3), (4), (5), and (6) as paragraphs (2), 
(3), (4), and (5), respectively; and 
(2) in subparagraph (B)(i) of paragraph (3), as 
so redesignated, by striking ‘‘paragraph (5) of this 
subsection’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (4)’’. 
(b) INCREASE IN MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE.—Section 
3733(a)(1) of such title is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘65 percent’’ in the first sen-
tence and inserting ‘‘85 percent’’; and 
(2) by striking the second sentence. 
(c) STYLISTIC AMENDMENT.—Section 3733 of such 
title is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (1) of this sub-