No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4750 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4750
To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 23, 2024
Mr. Casey introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure efficiency and fairness in Federal subcontracting, 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 ``Ensuring Efficiency and Fairness in
Federal Subcontracting Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability
of the House of Representatives.
(2) Executive agency.--The term ``executive agency'' has
the meaning given the term in section 133 of title 41, United
States Code.
SEC. 3. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON SMALL BUSINESS UTILIZATION IN
FEDERAL CONTRACTING.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees the results of a study on how
small business utilization by prime contractors can be better monitored
on the largest and longest Federal contracts, including Indefinite
Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts and Government-wide
Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), with any further relevant contract types
to be determined by the Comptroller General.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO NOTIFY SUBCONTRACTORS OF CONTRACT STATUS.
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall revise the
Federal Acquisition Regulation--
(1) to require prime contractors on Federal contracts to
provide to a subcontractor named in a subcontracting plan of
the prime contractor, within 30 days of a request from such
subcontractor, notification of the status of the contract,
including information such as whether the prime contractor has
received any task orders or executed other work under the
contract;
(2) to provide a means by which a subcontractor who has
made a request described in paragraph (1) and not received a
response within 30 days to report the request and delayed
response to the contracting officer;
(3) to require a contracting officer receiving a
notification described in paragraph (2) to document the
incident and consider the information in the small business
subcontracting factor of the performance assessment for the
prime contractor; and
(4) to require offerors for a task or delivery order on a
contract for which a subcontracting plan is required to provide
information in the proposal about how the offeror's proposed
small business utilization for the task or delivery order
aligns with the overall contract's small business
subcontracting plan.
SEC. 5. STUDY ON STRENGTHENING ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS DESIGNED TO
PROTECT SUBCONTRACTORS.
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Administrator of
General Services, the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration, and the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy,
shall conduct a study on ways to strengthen enforcement mechanisms for
compliance with subcontracting plans in accordance with section 19.705-
7 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, including exploring the
need for an alternative complaint route for subcontractors that have
experienced serious issues as a result of the prime contractor or a
subcontractor at any tier under the contract failing to make a good
faith effort, as outlined in such section and section 125.3 of title
13, Code of Federal Regulations.
SEC. 6. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON UTILIZATION OF CONTRACTOR
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT REPORTING SYSTEM (CPARS) DATA TO
ASSESS RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRIME AND SUBCONTRACTORS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees the results of
a study on how CPARS could be utilized as a means of gauging
relationships between prime and subcontractors.
(b) Elements.--The study required under subsection (a) shall focus
on the following matters:
(1) An examination of how adverse experiences of
subcontractors are or are not translated into lower CPARS
scores.
(2) An assessment of whether lower CPARS scores impact the
ability of prime contractors to secure Federal contracts and
options in source selection, including an examination of the
weighting of the subcontracting score relative to other
components of the CPARS.
(3) An assessment of whether the timing of scoring within
contracts is such that it incentivizes the best possible small
business utilization and interaction between prime and
subcontractors.
SEC. 7. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO MEET SMALL BUSINESS UTILIZATION GOALS.
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall revise the
Federal Acquisition Regulation to allow agencies to incorporate into
their incentive contracts with prime contractors a condition that--
(1) if the rate of small business utilization for the
contract is less than 50 percent of the utilization level
prescribed in the subcontracting plan, the prime contractor
shall not be eligible to receive a performance-based incentive
fee with respect to the contract; and
(2) if the rate of small business utilization at any stage
of an incentive contract is less than 75 percent of the
utilization level prescribed for such stage in the
subcontracting plan, the prime contractor may receive a warning
letter from the contracting officer for the contract noting the
shortfall and potential loss of incentive fees.
SEC. 8. OUTREACH TO SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTORS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall issue
guidance to the heads of executive agencies on measures they should
take to improve small business outreach and improve awareness of
subcontracting opportunities, including webinars, online engagements,
and other innovative methods of outreach, and hosting at least two
general outreach sessions per year for potential small business
contractors and one outreach session per year for each of the following
groups:
(1) Small business concerns owned and controlled by
veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by
service-disabled veterans (as those terms are defined in
section 3(q) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q))).
(2) Qualified HUBZone small business concerns (as defined
in section 3(p) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p))).
(3) Socially and economically disadvantaged small business
concerns (as defined in section 8(a)(4)(A) of such Act (15
U.S.C. 637(a)(4)(A))).
(4) Small business concerns owned and controlled by women
(as defined in section 3(n) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 632(n))).
SEC. 9. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ELECTRONIC SUBCONTRACTING REPORTING SYSTEM.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services shall
develop and include as part of the General Services Administration's
strategic information resources management plan required under section
3506(b)(2) of title 44, United States Code, a plan to modernize the
Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS).
(b) Elements.--The modernization plan required under subsection (a)
shall include--
(1) steps that the General Services Administration intends
to make toward updating and modernizing eSRS;
(2) an assessment of the capacity of the agency to operate
and maintain an updated system;
(3) the estimated cost and sources of funding required to
execute this plan; and
(4) a description of the additional resources and staffing
that is necessary to carrying out the plan.
(c) Submission to Congress.--Not later than 30 days after the date
on which the General Services Administration's strategic information
resources management plan is updated pursuant to subsection (a), the
Administrator of General Services shall submit the plan to modernize
eSRS described in such subsection.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line