“A bill to end preferences for disadvantaged individuals and businesses in Government contracts, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section repeals the 8(a) Business Development program (Small Business Act §8(m)), which provides contracting set-asides, price evaluation preferences, and business assistance to small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (i.e., those facing social or economic disadvantage due to race, ethnicity, gender, or other factors). It also eliminates all federal contracting preferences, set-asides, subcontracting goals, and reporting requirements for such 8(a) businesses and for women-owned small businesses throughout the Small Business Act, including repeal of related policy statements (§2(f)), program authorities (§8(a)(4)-(8)), and Small Business Innovation Research set-asides (§9). (Thus, contracting preferences remain only for qualified HUBZone small business concerns—those in historically underutilized business zones—and service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns.)
This section modifies small and disadvantaged business participation goals in Department of Transportation Airport Improvement Program grants by (1) reducing the overall small business goal to 5% (from 10%) and striking references to small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in 49 U.S.C. 47107(e); (2) revising 49 U.S.C. 47113 to eliminate definitions and provisions for disadvantaged business concerns, change the section heading to "Small business concern and qualified HUBZone small business concern," and refocus requirements on qualified HUBZone small business concerns; and (3) striking the minority business enterprise participation goal for Environmental Protection Agency assistance programs (42 U.S.C. 4370d).
This section eliminates specified reporting on women-owned and socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses in federal procurement reports under 41 U.S.C. 1713 and repeals the disadvantaged business enterprises contracting provision in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 13556) as follows: (1) redefines subsection (a) of 41 U.S.C. 1713 to define only "qualified HUBZone small business concern" (i.e., with the meaning given in section 31(b) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 657a(b)); and (2) strikes from subsection (b) of 41 U.S.C. 1713 reporting on "the number of small businesses owned and controlled by women, and the number of small business concerns owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, by gender." (As background, Section 3021 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 required the Department of Energy to establish goals ensuring disadvantaged business enterprises—i.e., small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals—receive an equitable share of DOE procurement contracts.)
This section prohibits heads of executive agencies from considering the race, ethnicity, or sex of individuals owning, controlling, or managing businesses when granting federal contracts or awards, or from requiring contractors or grantees to do so (adding new 41 U.S.C. §4715 for civilian agencies and new 10 U.S.C. §4663 for defense agencies). It directs agencies with relevant rules to submit proposed rulemakings within 60 days of enactment to remove such references, with final rules completed within 180 days, and requires issuance of revised guidance documents within 60 days.