Small Business Payment for Performance Act of 2023

Small Business Payment for Performance Act of 2023

This bill allows a small business that is awarded a construction contract by a federal agency to request an equitable adjustment if the agency's contracting officer directs a change in the contract's performance without the agreement of the small business.

The agency must provide the small business with an interim partial payment to cover additional costs resulting from such a change, and the small business must pay a first tier subcontractor or supplier the portion of the partial payment that is attributable to additional costs incurred due to the change.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2726 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2726

 To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial payment to 
small business contractors that request an equitable adjustment due to 
    a change in the terms of a construction contract, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 19, 2023

Mr. Stauber (for himself, Mr. Peters, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Veasey) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Small Business

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Small Business Act to provide interim partial payment to 
small business contractors that request an equitable adjustment due to 
    a change in the terms of a construction contract, 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 ``Small Business Payment for 
Performance Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
644) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (x) and (y) as subsections 
        (y) and (z), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (w) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(x) Interim Partial Payments for Equitable Adjustments to 
Construction Contracts.--
            ``(1) Request for an equitable adjustment.--A small 
        business concern that was awarded a construction contract by an 
        agency may submit a request for an equitable adjustment to the 
        contracting officer of such agency if the contracting officer 
        directs a change in the terms of the contract performance 
        without the agreement of the small business concern. Such 
        request shall--
                    ``(A) be timely made pursuant to the terms of the 
                contract; and
                    ``(B) specify the estimated amount required to 
                cover additional costs resulting from such change in 
                the terms.
            ``(2) Amount.--Upon receipt of a request for equitable 
        adjustment from a small business concern under paragraph (1), 
        the agency shall provide to such concern an interim partial 
        payment in an amount equal to not less than 50 percent of the 
        estimated amount under paragraph (1)(B).
            ``(3) Limitation.--Any interim partial payment made under 
        this section may not be deemed to be an action to definitize 
        the request for an equitable adjustment.
            ``(4) Flow-down of interim partial payment amounts.--A 
        small business concern that receives an equitable adjustment 
        under this subsection shall pay to a first tier subcontractor 
        of such concern the portion of each interim partial payment 
        received that is attributable to the increased costs of 
        performance incurred by such subcontractor due to the change in 
        the terms of the contract performance described in paragraph 
        (1). A first tier subcontractor that receives a portion of an 
        interim partial payment under this section shall pay to a 
        subcontractor (at any tier) the appropriate portion of such 
        payment.''.
    (b) Implementation.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration shall implement the requirements of this section not 
later than the earlier of the following dates:
            (1) The first day of the first full fiscal year beginning 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) October 1, 2025.
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