Rural Business Federal Contracting Act

Rural Business Federal Contracting Act - Provides that for the purpose of meeting the goals established below, the head of a Federal agency may award procurement contracts to rural business concerns on the basis of competition restricted to such concerns.

Requires that, before making such an award, the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the head of the contracting procurement agency determine such award to be in the interest of: (1) maintaining or mobilizing the Nation's full productive capacity; (2) national security; (3) assuring that a fair proportion of the total purchases and contracts for property and services for the Government in each industry category are placed with rural business concerns; or (4) assuring that a fair proportion of the total sales of Government property be made to rural business concerns.

Establishes Government-wide and individual agency goals for the award of Federal procurement contracts to rural business concerns.

 
HR 5845 IH
102d CONGRESS
2d Session
 H. R. 5845
To establish goals for the award of Federal procurement contracts to rural
business concerns, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 12, 1992
Mr. DORGAN of North Dakota introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Government Operations
A BILL
To establish goals for the award of Federal procurement contracts to rural
business concerns, 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 `Rural Business Federal Contracting Act'.
SEC. 2. AWARD OF FEDERAL PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS TO RURAL BUSINESS CONCERNS.
  (a) GENERAL RULE- For the purpose of meeting goals established under section
  3, the head of a Federal agency may award procurement contracts to rural
  business concerns on the basis of competition restricted to such concerns.
  (b) DETERMINATION- Before making an award under subsection (a), the
  Administrator and the head of the contracting procurement agency shall
  determine such award--
  (1) to be in the interest of maintaining or mobilizing the Nation's full
  productive capacity;
  (2) to be in the interest of national security;
  (3) to be in the interest of assuring that a fair proportion of the total
  purchases and contracts for property and services for the Government in
  each industry category are placed with rural business concerns; or
  (4) to be in the interest of assuring that a fair proportion of the total
  sales of Government property be made to rural business concerns.
Such determinations may be made for individual procurement contracts or for
classes of procurement contracts.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GOVERNMENT-WIDE AND INDIVIDUAL AGENCY GOALS.
  (a) GOVERNMENT-WIDE GOALS- The President shall annually establish
  Government-wide goals for procurement contracts awarded to rural business
  concerns. The Government-wide goal for participation by rural business
  concerns shall be established at not less than 20 percent of the total
  value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year. Notwithstanding
  the Government-wide goal, each agency shall have an annual goal that
  presents, for that agency, the maximum practicable opportunity for rural
  business concerns to participate in the performance of contracts let by
  such agency. The Administrator shall, when exercising authority pursuant
  to subsection (b), insure that the cumulative annual prime contract goals
  for all agencies meet or exceed the annual Government-wide prime contract
  goal established by the President pursuant to this subsection.
  (b) INDIVIDUAL AGENCY GOALS- The head of each Federal agency shall, after
  consultation with the Administrator, establish goals for the participation
  by rural business concerns in procurement contracts of such agency. Goals
  established under this subsection shall be jointly established by the
  Administrator and the head of each Federal agency and shall realistically
  reflect the potential of rural business concerns to perform such contracts
  and to perform subcontracts under such contracts. For the purpose of
  establishing goals under this subsection, the head of each Federal agency
  shall make consistent efforts to annually expand participation by rural
  business concerns from each industry category in procurement contracts of
  the agency. The head of each Federal agency, in attempting to attain such
  participation, shall consider--
  (A) contracts awarded as the result of unrestricted competition; and
  (B) contracts awarded after competition restricted to rural small business
  concerns under section 2.
  (c) REPORTING-
  (1) REPORTS BY INDIVIDUAL AGENCIES- At the conclusion of each fiscal year,
  the head of each Federal agency shall report to the Administrator on the
  extent of participation by rural business concerns in procurement contracts
  of such agency. Such reports shall contain appropriate justifications for
  failure to meet the goals established under this section.
  (2) COMPILATION- The Administrator shall annually compile and analyze the
  reports submitted by the individual agencies pursuant to paragraph (1)
  and shall submit them to the President and Congress. The Administrator's
  submission to the President and Congress shall include the following:
  (A) The Government-wide goals for participation by rural business concerns
  and the performance in attaining such goals.
  (B) The goals in effect for each agency and the agency's performance in
  attaining such goals.
  (C) An analysis of any failure to achieve the Government-wide goals or any
  individual agency goals and the actions planned by such agency (and approved
  by the Administrator) to achieve the goals in the succeeding fiscal year.
  (D) The number and dollar value of contracts awarded to rural business
  concerns through--
  (i) noncompetitive negotiation,
  (ii) competition restricted to rural business concerns, and
  (iii) unrestricted competitions,
for each agency and on a Government-wide basis.
  (E) The number and dollar value of subcontracts awarded to rural business
  concerns.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
  For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions apply:
  (1) ADMINISTRATOR- The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of
  the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.
  (2) RURAL BUSINESS CONCERN- The term `rural business concern' means
  a business concern located in an area other than an urbanized area,
  as designated by the Bureau of the Census using the latest available
  census data.