To provide for a program to provide Federal contracts to early stage small businesses, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Stage Small Business 
Contracting Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. IN GENERAL.

    The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 46. PROGRAM TO PROVIDE FEDERAL CONTRACTS TO EARLY STAGE SMALL 
              BUSINESSES.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Administrator shall establish and carry 
out a program in accordance with the requirements of this section to 
provide improved access to Federal contract opportunities for early 
stage small business concerns.
    ``(b) Procurement Contracts.--
            ``(1) In general.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
        Administrator, in consultation with other Federal agencies, 
        shall identify procurement contracts of Federal agencies for 
        award under the program.
            ``(2) Contract awards.--Under the program established 
        pursuant to this section, the award of a procurement contract 
        of a Federal agency identified by the Administrator pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall be made by the agency to an eligible 
        program participant selected, and determined to be responsible, 
        by the agency.
            ``(3) Competition.--
                    ``(A) Sole source.--A contracting officer may award 
                a sole source contract under this program if such 
                concern is determined to be a responsible contractor 
                with respect to performance of such contract 
                opportunity and the contracting officer does not have a 
                reasonable expectation that 2 or more early stage small 
                business concerns will submit offers for the 
                contracting opportunity and in the estimation of the 
                contracting officer, the contract award can be made at 
                a fair and reasonable price.
                    ``(B) Restricted competition.--A contracting 
                officer may award contracts on the basis of competition 
                restricted to early stage small business concerns if 
                the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation 
                that not less than 2 early stage small business 
                concerns will submit offers and that the award can be 
                made at a fair market price.
            ``(4) Contract value.--Contracts shall be awarded under 
        this program if its value is greater than $3,000 and less than 
        half the upper threshold of section 15(j)(1) of the Small 
        Business Act.
    ``(c) Eligibility.--Only an early stage small business concern 
shall be eligible to compete for a contract to be awarded under the 
program. The Administrator shall certify that a small business concern 
is an early stage small business concern, or the Administrator shall 
approve a Federal agency, a State government, or a national certifying 
entity to certify that the business meets the eligibility criteria of 
an early stage small business concern.
    ``(d) Technical Assistance.--The Administrator shall provide early 
stage small business concerns with technical assistance and counseling 
with regard to--
            ``(1) applying for and competing for Federal contracts; and
            ``(2) fulfilling the administrative responsibilities 
        associated with the performance of a Federal contract.
    ``(e) Attainment of Contract Goals.--All contract awards made under 
the program shall be counted toward the attainment of the goals 
specified in section 15(g) of the Small Business Act.
    ``(f) Regulations.--The Administrator shall--
            ``(1) issue proposed regulations to carry out this section 
        not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
        Act; and
            ``(2) issue final regulations to carry out this section not 
        later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
    ``(g) Report to Congress.--Not later than April 30, 2015, the 
Administrator shall transmit to the Congress a report on the 
performance of the program.
    ``(h) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:
            ``(1) Program.--The term `program' means a program 
        established pursuant to subsection (a).
            ``(2) Early stage small business concern.--The term `early 
        stage small business concern' means a small business concern 
        that--
                    ``(A) has not more than 15 employees; and
                    ``(B) has average annual receipts that total not 
                more than $1,000,000, except if the concern is in an 
                industry with an average annual revenue standard that 
                is less than $1,000,000, as defined by the North 
                American Industry Classification System.''.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SIMILAR PROGRAM.

    Section 304 of the Small Business Administration Reauthorization 
and Amendments Act of 1994 (15 U.S.C. 644 note) is repealed.

Summary: Early Stage Small Business Contracting Act of 2012 - Amends the Small Business Act to direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish and carry out a program to provide increased access to federal contract opportunities for early stage small businesses (no more than 15 employees and average annual receipts of no more than $1 million). Requires the Administrator to identify appropriate federal procurement contracts for award under the program.

Allows a contracting officer to award: (1) a sole source contract under the program if an entity is determined to be a responsible contractor and the officer does not reasonably expect that two or more early stage businesses will submit offers, and (2) contracts on the basis of competition restricted to early stage businesses if the officer reasonably expects that at least two early stage businesses will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair market price.

Requires all program contract awards to be counted toward goals for small business participation in federal procurement contracts.