I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5146 
To amend the Small Business Act to require contracting officers to take 
a small business concern’s past performance as part of a joint venture 
into account when evaluating the small business concern, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 18, 2019 
Mr. HAGEDORN (for himself and Mr. EVANS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To amend the Small Business Act to require contracting 
officers to take a small business concern’s past perform-
ance as part of a joint venture into account when evalu-
ating the small business concern, 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 ‘‘Unlocking Opportuni-
ties for Small Businesses Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT VEN-
TURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 15(e) of the Small Busi-
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 644(e)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(5) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF JOINT 
VENTURES FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—With 
respect to evaluating an offer for a prime contract 
made by a small business concern that previously 
participated in a joint venture with another business 
concern (whether or not such other business concern 
was itself a small business concern), the Adminis-
trator shall establish regulations— 
‘‘(A) requiring contracting officers to con-
sider the record of past performance of the 
joint venture when evaluating the past perform-
ance of the small business concern; and 
‘‘(B) requiring the small business concern 
to inform the contracting officer what duties 
and responsibilities the small business concern 
carried out as part of the joint venture.’’. 
SEC. 3. PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS OF FIRST-TIER 
SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS. 
Section 8(d)(17) of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 637(d)(17)) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(17) PAST PERFORMANCE RATINGS FOR CER-
TAIN SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTORS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Upon request by a 
small business concern that performed as a 
first-tier subcontractor on a covered contract 
(as defined in paragraph 13(A)) that is submit-
ting an offer for a solicitation, the prime con-
tractor for such covered contract shall submit 
to the contracting agency issuing the solicita-
tion or to such small business concern a record 
of past performance for such small business 
concern with respect to such covered contract. 
‘‘(B) CONSIDERATION.—A contracting offi-
cer shall consider the record of past perform-
ance of a small business concern provided under 
subparagraph (A) when evaluating an offer for 
a prime contract made by such small business 
concern.’’. 
SEC. 4. RULEMAKING. 
(a) SBA RULES.—Not later than the end of the 120- 
day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator of the Small Business Administration 
shall issue rules to carry out this Act and the amendments 
made by this Act. 
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