Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Assuring Contracting Equity Act of 2015”.
Assuring Contracting Equity Act of 2015
A BILL
To assure equity in contracting between the Federal Government and small business concerns, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Federal contracting goals
Increase in certain goals— Section 15(g)(1)(A) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(A)) is amended—
in clause (i), by striking “not less than 23 percent” and inserting “not less than 25 percent”;
by striking “not less than 5 percent” each place that term appears and inserting “not less than 10 percent”; and
by striking “not less than 3 percent” each place that term appears and inserting “not less than 6 percent”.
Limitation on number of categories for which a small business may qualify— Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(4) Limitation on number of categories for which a small business may qualify
“(A) Definition—In this paragraph, the term specified category means small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women.
“(B) Limitation—Except as provided under subparagraph (C), a Federal agency may include a business concern in not more than 2 specified categories for purposes of determining whether the Federal agency has met the Governmentwide goals under this subsection for the award of contracts to business concerns in specified categories.
“(C) Rule of construction—A Federal agency may not include a small business concern that is participating in the program under section 8(a) in any specified category except the category small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals for purposes of determining whether the Federal agency has met the Governmentwide goals under this subsection for the award of contracts to business concerns in specified categories.”
Sec. 3 Improving transparency to assist small business concerns
Section 15(h)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(h)(2)) is amended—
in subparagraph (E)(viii)(VIII), by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (F), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and” ; and
by adding at the following new subparagraph:
“(G) for the Federal Government, the percentage of participation by small business concerns for the total value of all prime contract awards and subcontract awards for a fiscal year, including the value of each prime contract and subcontract awarded for the fiscal year.”
Sec. 4 Compliance with small business subcontracting goals
The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall consult with the heads of other Federal agencies to develop and implement standards for procurement officers to take into consideration the past compliance of potential contractors with small business subcontracting goals when making contract awards.