How To Use the NDAA Pages

Back to NDAA Contents

TITLE VIII--ACQUISITION POLICY, ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT, AND RELATED MATTERS

Subtitle F—Industrial Base Matters

P. L. 114-

House Conference Report. 114-270

(a) Amendment to Governmentwide goal for small business participation in procurement contracts.—Section 15(g)(1)(A)(i) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(A)(i)) is amended by adding at the end the following: “In meeting this goal, the Government shall ensure the participation of small business concerns from a wide variety of industries and from a broad spectrum of small business concerns within each industry.”.

(b) Scorecard program for evaluating federal agency compliance with small business contracting goals.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 2016, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, in consultation with the Federal agencies, shall—

(A) develop a methodology for calculating a score to be used to evaluate the compliance of each Federal agency with meeting the goals established pursuant to section 15(g)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(B)) based on each such goal; and

(B) develop a scorecard based on such methodology.

(2) USE OF SCORECARD.—Beginning in fiscal year 2017, the Administrator shall establish and carry out a program to use the scorecard developed under paragraph (1) to evaluate whether each Federal agency is creating the maximum practicable opportunities for the award of prime contracts and subcontracts to 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, by assigning a score to each Federal agency for the previous fiscal year.

(3) CONTENTS OF SCORECARD.—The scorecard developed under paragraph (1) shall include, for each Federal agency, the following information:

(A) A determination of whether the Federal agency met each of the prime contract goals established pursuant to section 15(g)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(B)) with respect to 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) A determination of whether the Federal agency met each of the subcontract goals established pursuant to such section with respect to 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.

(C) The number of 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 awarded prime contracts in each North American Industry Classification System code during the fiscal year and a comparison to the number of awarded contracts during the prior fiscal year, if available.

(D) The number of 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 awarded subcontracts in each North American Industry Classification System code during the fiscal year and a comparison to the number of awarded subcontracts during the prior fiscal year, if available.

(E) Any other factors that the Administrator deems important to achieve the maximum practicable utilization of 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.

(4) WEIGHTED FACTORS.—In using the scorecard to evaluate and assign a score to a Federal agency, the Administrator shall base—

(A) fifty percent of the score on the dollar value of prime contracts described in paragraph (3)(A); and

(B) fifty percent of the score on the information provided in subparagraphs (B) through (E) of paragraph (3), weighted in a manner determined by the Administrator to encourage the maximum practicable opportunity for the award of prime contracts and subcontracts to 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.

(5) PUBLICATION.—The scorecard used by the Administrator under this subsection shall be submitted to the President and Congress along with the report submitted under section 15(h)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(h)(2)).

(6) REPORT.—After the Administrator uses the scorecard for fiscal year 2018 to assign scores to Federal agencies, but not later than March 31, 2019, the Administrator shall submit a report to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate. Such report shall include the following:

(A) A description of any increase in the dollar amount of prime contracts and subcontracts awarded to 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) A description of any increase in the dollar amount of prime contracts and subcontracts, and the total number of contracts, awarded to 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 in each North American Industry Classification System code.

(C) The recommendation of the Administrator on continuing, modifying, expanding, or terminating the program established under this subsection.

(7) GAO REPORT ON SCORECARD METHODOLOGY.—Not later than September 30, 2018, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate a report that—

(A) evaluates whether the methodology used to calculate a score under this subsection accurately and effectively—

(i) measures the compliance of each Federal agency with meeting the goals established pursuant to section 15(g)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(B)); and

(ii) encourages Federal agencies to expand opportunities for 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 to compete for and be awarded Federal procurement contracts across North American Industry Classification System codes; and

(B) if warranted, makes recommendations on how to improve such methodology to improve its accuracy and effectiveness.

(8) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

(A) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.

(B) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term “Federal agency” has the meaning given the term “agency” by section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code, but does not include the United States Postal Service or the Government Accountability Office.

(C) SCORECARD.—The term “scorecard” shall mean any summary using a rating system to evaluate a Federal agency’s efforts to meet goals established under section 15(g)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(B)) that—

(i) includes the measures described in paragraph (3); and

(ii) assigns a score to each Federal agency evaluated.

(D) SMALL BUSINESS ACT DEFINITIONS.—

(i) IN GENERAL.—The terms “small business concern”, “small business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans”, “qualified HUBZone small business concern”, and “small business concern owned and controlled by women” have the meanings given such terms under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

(ii) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED INDIVIDUALS.—The term “small business concern owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals” has the meaning given that term under section 8(d)(3)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)(3)(C)).

The Senate amendment contained no similar provision.

The Senate recedes with an amendment to remove the requirement for the establishment and execution of the program before the end of fiscal year 2017.

Included in Amendments En Bloc No. 1 Offered by Mr. Thornberry of Texas.  Congressional Record, May 14, 2015, Page H3157.

Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), chair of the Small Business Committee.

Mr. CHABOT. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise today as chairman of the House Small Business Committee to support the en bloc amendment, which includes the bipartisan amendment offered by Mr. Connolly of Virginia and myself. It is really commonsense acquisition reform.

There are numerous small business contracting programs aimed at ensuring that the Department of Defense has a reliable small business technological and industrial base, but we rarely look at the results of these programs. The current method used to assess the health of the small business base focuses almost exclusively on one factor, and that is prime contract dollars.

While this is an important factor, we are missing a lot of the picture. For example, the current method ignores the fact that since 2013 we have lost over 25 percent of the small firms registered to do business with the Federal Government. That is over 100,000 small businesses that are no longer competing for contracts.

We also have a declining small business participation rate, which threatens the core principle of competition. It is basic supply and demand: when there are fewer offers, prices go up. And that harms the taxpayer. That is what we are trying to deal with.

I urge my colleagues to support this.  (Number 14 of en bloc amendment.)  Page H3162