Title: Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act of 2019
This bill modifies provisions regarding the inclusion of option years in the award price for certain sole source contracts (i.e., contracts awarded without a competitive process) by requiring the base and each of the option years of the award, if any, to be of similar value. Under current law, option years in the award price for such contracts limit their dollar award threshold.
Specifically, the bill revises requirements for the award of these contracts to (1) qualified Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses, (2) small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, (3) economically disadvantaged small businesses owned and controlled by women, (4) small businesses owned and controlled by women in substantially underrepresented industries, and (5) qualified socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses.
The Government Accountability Office must evaluate the policies and practices used by the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies to ensure that contracting officers are properly classifying sole source contracts under procurement programs for businesses owned by women and disabled veterans in the Federal Procurement Data System.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 673 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 673

 To amend the Small Business Act to eliminate the inclusion of option 
   years in the award price for sole source contracts, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 6, 2019

Ms. Ernst (for herself and Ms. Baldwin) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business 
                          and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to eliminate the inclusion of option 
   years in the award price for sole source contracts, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expanding Contracting Opportunities 
for Small Businesses Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the terms ``Administration'' and ``Administrator'' mean 
        the Small Business Administration and the Administrator 
        thereof;
            (2) the term ``small business concern owned and controlled 
        by service-disabled veterans'' has the meaning given the term 
        in section 3(q) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)); 
        and
            (3) the term ``small business concern owned and controlled 
        by women'' has the meaning given the term in section 8(m) of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)).

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CONTRACTING AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS 
              CONCERNS.

    (a) Qualified HUBZone Small Business Concerns.--Section 31(b)(2)(A) 
of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657a(b)(2)(A)) is amended to read 
as follows:
                    ``(A) Sole source contracts.--A contracting officer 
                may award sole source contracts under this section to 
                any qualified HUBZone small business concern, if--
                            ``(i) the qualified HUBZone small business 
                        concern is determined to be a responsible 
                        contractor with respect to performance of the 
                        contract opportunity;
                            ``(ii) the contracting officer does not 
                        have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more 
                        qualified HUBZone small business concerns will 
                        submit offers for the contract opportunity;
                            ``(iii) the anticipated award price of the 
                        contract will not exceed--
                                    ``(I) $7,000,000, in the case of a 
                                contract opportunity assigned a 
                                standard industrial classification code 
                                for manufacturing; or
                                    ``(II) $4,000,000, in the case of 
                                all other contract opportunities;
                            ``(iv) in the estimation of the contracting 
                        officer, the contract award can be made at a 
                        fair and reasonable price; and
                            ``(v) the base and each of the option years 
                        of the award, if any, are of similar value.''.
    (b) Small Business Concern Owned and Controlled by Service-Disabled 
Veterans.--Section 36(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657f(a)) 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Sole Source Contracts.--In accordance with this section, a 
contracting officer may award a sole source contract to any small 
business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans if--
            ``(1) the concern is determined to be a responsible 
        contractor with respect to performance of the contract 
        opportunity;
            ``(2) the contracting officer does not have a reasonable 
        expectation that 2 or more small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by service-disabled veterans will submit offers for 
        the contract opportunity;
            ``(3) the anticipated award price of the contract will not 
        exceed--
                    ``(A) $7,000,000, in the case of a contract 
                opportunity assigned a standard industrial 
                classification code for manufacturing; or
                    ``(B) $4,000,000, in the case of any other contract 
                opportunity;
            ``(4) in the estimation of the contracting officer, the 
        contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price;
            ``(5) the contracting officer has notified the 
        Administration of the intent to make the award and requested 
        that the Administration determine the eligibility of the 
        concern for the award;
            ``(6) the base and each of the option years of the award, 
        if any, are of similar value; and
            ``(7) the Administration has determined that the concern is 
        eligible for the award.''.
    (c) Certain Small Business Concerns Owned and Controlled by 
Women.--Section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) is 
amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (7) to read as follows:
            ``(7) Authority for sole source contracts for economically 
        disadvantaged small business concerns owned and controlled by 
        women.--A contracting officer may award a sole source contract 
        under this subsection to any small business concern owned and 
        controlled by women described in paragraph (2)(A) and certified 
        under paragraph (2)(E) if--
                    ``(A) the concern is determined to be a responsible 
                contractor with respect to performance of the contract 
                opportunity;
                    ``(B) the contracting officer does not have a 
                reasonable expectation that 2 or more small business 
                concerns owned and controlled by women described in 
                paragraph (2)(A) will submit offers for the contract 
                opportunity;
                    ``(C) the anticipated award price of the contract 
                will not exceed--
                            ``(i) $7,000,000, in the case of a contract 
                        opportunity assigned a standard industrial 
                        classification code for manufacturing; or
                            ``(ii) $4,000,000, in the case of any other 
                        contract opportunity;
                    ``(D) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 
                the contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable 
                price;
                    ``(E) the contracting officer has notified the 
                Administration of the intent to make the award and 
                requested that the Administration determine the 
                eligibility of the concern for the award;
                    ``(F) the base and each of the option years of the 
                award, if any, are of similar value; and
                    ``(G) the Administration has determined that the 
                concern is eligible for the award.''; and
            (2) by amending paragraph (8) to read as follows:
            ``(8) Authority for sole source contracts for small 
        business concerns owned and controlled by women in 
        substantially underrepresented industries.--A contracting 
        officer may award a sole source contract under this subsection 
        to any small business concern owned and controlled by women 
        certified under paragraph (2)(E) that is in an industry in 
        which small business concerns owned and controlled by women are 
        substantially underrepresented (as determined by the 
        Administrator under paragraph (3)) if--
                    ``(A) the concern is determined to be a responsible 
                contractor with respect to performance of the contract 
                opportunity;
                    ``(B) the contracting officer does not have a 
                reasonable expectation that 2 or more businesses in an 
                industry that has received a waiver under paragraph (3) 
                will submit offers for the contract opportunity;
                    ``(C) the anticipated award price of the contract 
                will not exceed--
                            ``(i) $7,000,000, in the case of a contract 
                        opportunity assigned a standard industrial 
                        classification code for manufacturing; or
                            ``(ii) $4,000,000, in the case of any other 
                        contract opportunity;
                    ``(D) in the estimation of the contracting officer, 
                the contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable 
                price;
                    ``(E) the contracting officer has notified the 
                Administration of the intent to make the award and 
                requested that the Administration determine the 
                eligibility of the concern for the award;
                    ``(F) the base and each of the option years of the 
                award, if any, are of similar value; and
                    ``(G) the Administration has determined that the 
                concern is eligible for the award.''.
    (d) Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Small Business 
Concerns.--Section 8(a)(1)(D)(i) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
637(a)(1)(D)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(D)(i) A contracting officer may award sole source 
        contracts under this subsection to any qualified socially and 
        economically disadvantaged small business concern, as defined 
        in paragraph (4)(A), if--
                    ``(I) the qualified socially and economically 
                disadvantaged small business concern is determined to 
                be a responsible contractor with respect to performance 
                of the contract opportunity;
                    ``(II) the contracting officer does not have a 
                reasonable expectation that 2 or more qualified 
                socially and economically disadvantaged small business 
                concerns will submit offers for the contract 
                opportunity;
                    ``(III) the anticipated award price of the contract 
                will not exceed--
                            ``(aa) $7,000,000, in the case of a 
                        contract opportunity assigned a standard 
                        industrial classification code for 
                        manufacturing; or
                            ``(bb) $4,000,000, in the case of any other 
                        contract opportunity;
                    ``(IV) in the estimation of the contracting 
                officer, the contract award can be made at a fair and 
                reasonable price; and
                    ``(V) the base and each of the option years of the 
                award, if any, are of similar value.''.

SEC. 4. SBA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM NOTIFICATION.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator shall notify the Committee on 
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee on 
Small Business of the House of Representatives when the Administrator 
has implemented each of the following:
            (1) A program to certify small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by women.
            (2) A program to certify small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by service-disabled veterans.
    (b) Additional Notice.--The Administrator shall submit a copy of a 
notification required under subsection (a) to the Law Revision Counsel 
of the House of Representatives so that the Law Revision Counsel may 
execute the amendments required under section 5.

SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION UPON IMPLEMENTATION OF 
              CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS.

    Effective upon the notification described in section 4, the Small 
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.), as amended by section 3 of this 
Act, is amended--
            (1) in section 8(m) (15 U.S.C. 637(m))--
                    (A) in paragraph (7)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (D), by adding ``and'' 
                        at the end;
                            (ii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and (G);
                            (iii) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 
                        subparagraph (E); and
                            (iv) in subparagraph (E), as so 
                        redesignated, by striking ``; and'' and 
                        inserting a period; and
                    (B) in paragraph (8)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (D), by adding ``and'' 
                        at the end;
                            (ii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and (G);
                            (iii) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as 
                        subparagraph (E); and
                            (iv) in subparagraph (E), as so 
                        redesignated, by striking ``; and'' and 
                        inserting a period; and
            (2) in section 36(a) (15 U.S.C. 657f(a))--
                    (A) in paragraph (3), by adding ``and'' at the end;
                    (B) in paragraph (4), by striking the semicolon at 
                the end and inserting a period; and
                    (C) by striking paragraphs (5), (6), and (7).

SEC. 6. GAO REPORT.

    (a) Study.--With respect to the procurement programs of the 
Administration for small business concerns owned and controlled by 
women and for small business concerns owned and controlled by service-
disabled veterans, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct an evaluation of the policies and practices used by the 
Administration and other Federal agencies to provide assurances that--
            (1) contracting officers are properly classifying sole 
        source awards under those programs in the Federal Procurement 
        Data System; and
            (2) sole source contracts awarded under those programs are 
        being awarded to eligible concerns.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date on which the 
Administration implements the certification programs described in 
section 4(a), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 
to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate 
and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives a 
report containing the findings made in carrying out the study required 
under subsection (a).
    (c) SBA Consideration of GAO Report.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator shall review the report 
        issued under subsection (b) and take such actions as the 
        Administrator may determine appropriate to address any concerns 
        raised in the report and any recommendations contained in the 
        report.
            (2) Report to congress.--After the review described under 
        paragraph (1), the Administrator shall submit to Congress a 
        report--
                    (A) stating that no additional actions were 
                necessary to address any concerns or recommendations 
                contained in the report; or
                    (B) describing the actions taken by the 
                Administrator to resolve those concerns or implement 
                those recommendations.
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