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 eliminates the inclusion of option years in the award price for certain sole source contracts (i.e., contracts awarded without a competitive process). 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, and (4) small businesses owned and controlled by women in substantially underrepresented industries.
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]
[H.R. 190 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 190

 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2019

 Mr. Marshall (for himself and Mr. Schneider) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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. AMENDMENTS TO CONTRACTING AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS 
              CONCERNS.

    (a) Qualified HUBZone Small Business Concerns.--Subparagraph (A) of 
section 31(b)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657a(b)(2)) 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 such 
                        contract opportunity;
                            ``(ii) the contracting officer does not 
                        have a reasonable expectation that two or more 
                        qualified HUBZone small business concerns will 
                        submit offers for the contracting 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; and
                            ``(iv) in the estimation of the contracting 
                        officer, the contract award can be made at a 
                        fair and reasonable price.''.
    (b) Small Business Concern Owned and Controlled by Service-Disabled 
Veterans.--Subsection (a) of section 36 of the Small Business Act (15 
U.S.C. 657f) 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) such concern is determined to be a responsible 
        contractor with respect to performance of such contract 
        opportunity;
            ``(2) the contracting officer does not have a reasonable 
        expectation that two or more small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by service-disabled veterans will submit offers for 
        the contracting 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 such award and requested 
        that the Administration determine the concern's eligibility for 
        award; and
            ``(6) the Administration has determined that such concern 
        is eligible for 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) such 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 two or more businesses 
                described in paragraph (2)(A) will submit offers;
                    ``(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 such award and 
                requested that the Administration determine the 
                concern's eligibility for award; and
                    ``(F) the Administration has determined that such 
                concern is eligible for 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) such 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 two or more businesses in 
                an industry that has received a waiver under paragraph 
                (3) will submit offers;
                    ``(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 such award and 
                requested that the Administration determine the 
                concern's eligibility for award; and
                    ``(F) the Administration has determined that such 
                concern is eligible for award.''.
    (d) Elimination of the Inclusion of Option Years in the Award Price 
for Contracts.--Section 8 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637) is 
amended by striking ``(including options)'' each place such term 
appears.

SEC. 3. SBA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM NOTIFICATION.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall notify the Committee on Small Business of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship of the Senate when the Administrator has implemented 
each of the following:
            (1) A program to certify small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by women (as defined in section 8(m) of the Small 
        Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m))).
            (2) A program to certify small business concerns owned and 
        controlled by service-disabled veterans (as defined in section 
        3(q)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q))).
    (b) Additional Notice.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration 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 4.

SEC. 4. REMOVAL OF ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION UPON IMPLEMENTATION OF 
              CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS.

    Effective upon the notification described under section 3, the 
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 8(m)--
                    (A) in paragraph (7)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (C), by adding ``and'' 
                        at the end;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 
                        semicolon at the end and inserting a period; 
                        and
                            (iii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and 
                        (F); and
                    (B) in paragraph (8)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (C), by adding ``and'' 
                        at the end;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 
                        semicolon at the end and inserting a period; 
                        and
                            (iii) by striking subparagraphs (E) and 
                        (F); and
            (2) in section 36(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) and (6).

SEC. 5. GAO REPORT.

    (a) Study.--With respect to the procurement programs of the Small 
Business Administration for small business concerns owned and 
controlled by women (as defined in section 8(m) of the Small Business 
Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m))) and for small business concerns owned and 
controlled by service-disabled veterans (as defined in section 3(q)(1) 
of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q))), 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 contracting officers are properly classifying 
sole source awards under those programs in the Federal Procurement Data 
System and that sole source contracts awarded under those programs are 
being awarded to eligible concerns.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the Small Business 
Administration implements the certification programs described under 
section 3, the Comptroller General shall issue a report to the 
Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate 
containing the findings made in carrying out the study required under 
subsection (a).
    (c) SBA Consideration of GAO Report.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
        Administration shall review the report issued under subsection 
        (b) and take such actions as the Administrator may determine 
        appropriate to address any concerns raised in such report and 
        any recommendations contained in such report.
            (2) Report to congress.--After the review described under 
        paragraph (1), the Administrator shall issue a report to 
        Congress--
                    (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 such concerns or implement 
                such recommendations.
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