I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4943
To amend the Small Business Act to require that certain acquisitions of
goods and services be from small business concerns and to authorize
certain acquisitions using a governmentwide commercial purchase card,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 25, 2000
Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Small business, and in addition to the Committee
on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Act to require that certain
acquisitions of goods and services be from small business
concerns and to authorize certain acquisitions using a
governmentwide commercial purchase card, 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 ‘‘Small Business Fed-
eral Acquisition Simplification Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT USING GOVERNMENTWIDE COM-
MERCIAL PURCHASE CARDS.
Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644)
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(p) PROCUREMENT USING GOVERNMENTWIDE COM-
MERCIAL PURCHASE CARDS.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply:
‘‘(A) 
AUTHORIZED
INDIVIDUAL.—The
term ‘authorized individual’ means a person
who has been granted authority, in accordance
with Federal agency procedures, to acquire
goods or services using a governmentwide com-
mercial purchase card.
‘‘(B) GOODS
OR
SERVICES.—The term
‘goods or services’ means all goods, supplies,
and services (including construction services, re-
search and development services, and commer-
cial items) offered for sale or otherwise pro-
vided by a small business concern.
‘‘(C) 
GOVERNMENTWIDE
COMMERCIAL
PURCHASE CARD.—The term ‘governmentwide
commercial purchase card’ means a purchase
card issued to authorized individuals to use to
acquire and pay for goods or services.
‘‘(2) ACQUISITION REQUIREMENT.—Each ac-
quisition of goods or services by an authorized indi-
vidual using a governmentwide commercial purchase
card shall be from small business concerns unless no
small business concern—
‘‘(A) provides goods or services of the same
kind or a comparable nature;
‘‘(B) can provide the goods or services
within the required time schedule; or
‘‘(C) can meet the quality standards estab-
lished in writing by the agency for the goods or
services to be acquired.
‘‘(3) BLIND
OR
SEVERELY
DISABLED
VEN-
DORS.—Nothing in this subsection shall be con-
strued to change or modify any requirement under
any provision of the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act (41
U.S.C. 46 et seq.) that goods or services be acquired
from people who are blind or who are severely dis-
abled.
‘‘(4) ACQUISITIONS
FROM
ENTITIES
OTHER
THAN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.—If, using a gov-
ernmentwide commercial purchase card, an author-
ized individual acquires goods or services that are
available from a small business concern from an en-
tity other than a small business concern, the author-
ized individual shall—
‘‘(A) report the acquisition to the person in
the authorized individual’s agency who is re-
sponsible for acquisition; and
‘‘(B) document the reasons for not acquir-
ing the goods or services from a small business
concern.
‘‘(5) 
SMALL-VALUE
ACQUISITIONS.—Before
making any acquisition using a governmentwide
commercial purchase card of goods or services hav-
ing an anticipated dollar value of $2,500 or less, an
authorized individual shall not be required to obtain
individual price information or price quotations for
the goods or services, but may consider—
‘‘(A) the nature of the goods or services to
be acquired, whether the market for such goods
or services is highly competitive, and whether
the goods or services are readily available;
‘‘(B) information obtained in making re-
cent acquisitions of the same or similar goods
or services;
‘‘(C) the dollar amount of the proposed ac-
quisition; or
‘‘(D) past experience concerning the prices
of specific vendors.
‘‘(6) AUTHORITY FOR MODERATE-VALUE ACQUI-
SITIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph
(2), an authorized individual may acquire using
a governmentwide commercial purchase card
goods or services having an anticipated dollar
value of more than $2,500 but not more than
$25,000, only if the authorized individual ob-
tains pricing information (that includes the
maximum benefit of any discounts) from not
less than 2 small business concerns that deal in
the type or kind of goods or services sought.
‘‘(B) SOURCE
OF
PRICING
INFORMA-
TION.—The pricing information referred to in
subparagraph (A) may be based on any of the
following:
‘‘(i) Printed price lists or catalogs.
‘‘(ii) Oral or written price quotations
or offers from small business concerns that
deal in the type or kind of goods or serv-
ices sought.
‘‘(iii) Prices obtained from electronic
media such as the Internet.
‘‘(C) CONSIDERATIONS.—When making an
acquisition under this paragraph, in addition to
considerations of price, an authorized individual
may consider information such as previous ex-
perience with the vendor of the goods or serv-
ices, customer surveys, or other reasonable
bases.
‘‘(7) AUTHORITY FOR LARGE-VALUE ACQUISI-
TIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph
(2), an authorized individual may acquire using
a governmentwide commercial purchase card
goods or services having an anticipated dollar
value of more than $25,000, but not more than
$100,000, only if the authorized individual—
‘‘(i) advertises the proposed acquisi-
tion by electronic media such as the Inter-
net not fewer than 12 days before the ac-
quisition;
‘‘(ii) considers all price quotations
that are received in a timely manner; and
‘‘(iii) solicits price quotations or offers
from at least 3 small business concerns
that deal in the type or kind of goods or
services sought, including at least 1 of the
following:
‘‘(I) A small business concern
owned and controlled by socially and
economically disadvantaged individ-
uals.
‘‘(II) A small business concern
owned and controlled by women.
‘‘(III) A small business concern
owned and controlled by veterans.
‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—When making an
acquisition under this paragraph, in addition to
considerations of price, an authorized individual
shall consider—
‘‘(i) the nature of the goods or serv-
ices to be acquired, whether the market for
such goods or services is highly competi-
tive, and whether the goods or services are
readily available in several makes or
brands;
‘‘(ii) any information regarding the
vendor’s past performance with respect to
recent acquisitions of the same or similar
items; and
‘‘(iii) the urgency of the proposed ac-
quisition.
‘‘(8) SOURCE LISTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Each agency shall
maintain, or contribute to the maintenance of,
a comprehensive source list (in written or elec-
tronic form) of small business concerns that are
vendors of goods or services of the kind likely
to be acquired by the agency.
‘‘(B) STATUS OF VENDOR.—Each list de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) shall identify
whether each vendor on the list is any of the
following:
‘‘(i) A small business concerns owned
and controlled by socially and economically
disadvantaged individuals.
‘‘(ii) A small business concern owned
and controlled by women.
‘‘(iii) A small business concern owned
and controlled by veterans.
‘‘(9) PUBLICATION AND REPORTING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 90
days after the end of each fiscal year, each Fed-
eral agency shall publish in the Federal Reg-
ister, and transmit to the Office of Advocacy of
the Small Business Administration, information
regarding acquisitions made under this sub-
section.
‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The information pub-
lished and reported under subparagraph (A)
shall include each of the following:
‘‘(i) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions under this subsection.
‘‘(ii) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions from small business concerns.
‘‘(iii) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions from entities that are not small busi-
ness concerns.
‘‘(iv) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions from small business concerns owned
and controlled by socially and economically
disadvantaged individuals.
‘‘(v) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions from small business concerns owned
and controlled by women.
‘‘(vi) The total dollar value of acquisi-
tions from small business concerns owned
and controlled by veterans.’’.
SEC. 3. PROCUREMENT AUDIT AND REPORT TO CONGRESS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the
United States shall conduct an audit of the books and ac-
counts of the 10 largest Federal agencies (as measured
by the total dollar amount of acquisitions) acquiring goods
or services using governmentwide commercial purchase
cards.
(b) REPORT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later January 1, 2002,
the Comptroller General of the United States shall
transmit to the Committees on Small Business of
the House of Representatives and the Senate a re-
port containing the results of the audit conducted
under subsection (a) and information regarding com-
pliance with the requirements of this Act
(2) CONTENTS.—The report described in para-
graph (1) shall specifically address the each of the
following with respect to each Federal agency:
(A) The total dollar amount of goods or
services acquired in acquisitions of $100,000 or
less that were acquired from small business
concerns, and the total dollar amount of such
acquisitions that were acquired from entities
other than small business concerns.
(B) The total dollar amount of goods or
services acquired in acquisitions of $2,500 or
less that were acquired using a governmentwide
commercial purchase card from small business
concerns, and the total dollar amount of such
acquisitions from entities other than small busi-
ness concerns.
(C) The total dollar amount of goods or
services acquired in acquisitions of $100,000 or
less from each of the following:
(i) Small business concerns owned and
controlled by socially and economically dis-
advantaged individuals.
(ii) Small business concerns owned
and controlled by women.
(iii) Small business concerns owned
and controlled by veterans.
(D) The total dollar amount of goods or
services acquired in acquisitions of $100,000 or
less using a governmentwide commercial pur-
chase card from each of the types of small busi-
ness concerns listed in clauses (i) through (iii)
of subparagraph (C).
(E) Information regarding the source lists
maintained pursuant to section 15(p)(8) of the
Small Business Act, as added by section 2 of
this Act, and information evaluating how com-
prehensive such lists are and how accurate such
lists are in identifying whether a source is a
small business concern, a small business con-
cern owned and controlled by socially and eco-
nomically disadvantaged individuals, small busi-
ness concern owned and controlled by women,
small business concern owned and controlled by
veterans.
(F) Information regarding each rule, regu-
lation, directive and policy statement that was
issued to implement this Act.
(G) Any recommendations to the agency
for improving compliance with the requirements
of this Act and any recommendations for legis-
lative changes to minimize noncompliance and
to increase Federal acquisition from small busi-
ness concerns.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-
nitions apply:—
(1) GOODS OR SERVICES.—The term ‘‘goods or
services’’ has the meaning given such term in section
15(p)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (as added by
section 2 of this Act).
(2) GOVERNMENTWIDE COMMERCIAL PURCHASE
CARD.—The term ‘‘governmentwide commercial pur-
chase card’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 15(p)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (as
added by section 2 of this Act).
SEC. 4. DIRECT PAYMENT TO SUBCONTRACTORS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(d) of the Small Busi-
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) is amended by—
(1) redesignating paragraphs (8), (9), (10), and
(11) as (9), (10), (11), and (12), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol-
lowing new paragraph:
‘‘(8) TIMELY
PAYMENT
TO
SMALL
BUSINESS
SUBCONTRACTORS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), the failure of a prime contractor to
make timely payment to a subcontractor that is
a small business concern shall be a material
breach of the contract with the Federal agency.
‘‘(B) 
CONSIDERATION
OF
PERFORM-
ANCE.—Prior to making any determination of
failure for the purposes of subparagraph (A),
the contracting officer shall consider all reason-
able issues regarding the performance, or lack
of performance, of the subcontractor.
‘‘(C) WITHHOLDING
OF
PAYMENTS.—At
any time before the date that is 30 days after
the date of a breach described in subparagraph
(A), the Federal agency may withhold any
amounts due and owing the subcontractor from
payments due to the prime contractor and make
direct payment of such amounts to the subcon-
tractor.’’.
(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition
Regulation and the Defense Acquisition Regulation shall
be amended to implement the amendment made by sub-
section (a).
SEC. 5. SUBCONTRACTING CERTIFICATION.
Section 8(d)(6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
637(d)(6)) is amended by—
(1) in subparagraph (H) (as redesignated by
section 6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (I) (as redesignated by sec-
tion 6), by striking the period at the end and insert-
ing ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by inserting at the end the following new
subparagraph:
‘‘(J) certification that the offeror or bidder
will acquire articles, equipment, supplies, serv-
ices, or materials or obtain the performance of
construction work from subcontractors named
in the bid or proposal and in the amount and
quality used in preparing the bid or proposal
unless the subcontractor is no longer in busi-
ness or can no longer meet the quality, quan-
tity, or delivery date.’’.
SEC. 6. INTERNET ANNOUNCEMENTS OF CERTAIN SUBCON-
TRACTING OPPORTUNITIES.
Section 8(d)(6) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
637(d)(6)) is amended by—
(1) redesignating subparagraphs (D), (E), and
(F) as (G), (H), and (I), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(D) assurances that the offeror or bidder
will provide information concerning subcon-
tracting opportunities on an appropriate Inter-
net site accessible to small business concerns
(including small business concerns owned and
controlled by socially and economically dis-
advantaged individuals, small business concerns
owned and controlled by women, and small
business concerns owned and controlled by vet-
erans);
‘‘(E) not later than 10 days after the
award of a contract for which a subcontracting
plan is required under paragraph (4) or (5), the
offeror or bidder shall provide on the Internet—
‘‘(i) the name and address of the of-
feror or bidder;
‘‘(ii) the name, title, telephone, and
facsimile transmission number, and elec-
tronic mail and postal address of the indi-
vidual within the employ of the offeror or
bidder who is responsible for administering
the subcontracting program; and
‘‘(iii) a list of anticipated subcon-
tracting opportunities including a descrip-
tion of the quality, quantity, and antici-
pated acquisition and delivery dates of the
goods or services, the provision or perform-
ance of which is to be subcontracted;
‘‘(F) in order to ensure that small business
concerns have an equitable opportunity to com-
pete for subcontracts, not less than 30 days be-
fore the award of a contract with respect to
each subcontracting opportunity, each bidder or
offeror required to submit a subcontracting
plan shall provide on the Internet—
‘‘(i) the name and address of offeror
or bidder;
‘‘(ii) the name, title, telephone and
facsimile transmission number, and elec-
tronic mail and postal address of the indi-
vidual within the employ of the offeror or
bidder who is the buyer for the particular
acquisition;
‘‘(iii) a description of the quality,
quantity, and anticipated acquisition and
delivery date of the goods or services to be
acquired, and, if applicable, the any no-
menclature, any National Stock Number or
other part number, and a brief description
of the form, fit, or function, physical di-
mensions, predominant material or manu-
facture, of the goods or services, or similar
information that will assist a prospective
subcontractor bid on the subcontracting
opportunity;
‘‘(iv) the procurement procedures to
be followed in awarding the subcontract;
and
‘‘(v) a statement that all responsible
sources that are small business concerns
may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation,
as appropriate.’’.
SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF INTERNET.
Section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632)
is amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(r) DEFINITION OF INTERNET.—In this Act,
the term ‘Internet’ has the meaning given such term
in section 230(f)(1) of the Communications Act of
1934.’’.
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