House panel OKs small biz contracting bill

It took less than a week from bill introduction to approval for the House Small Business Committee to advance a broad range of proposed changes in law affecting small business federal contracting.

Committee chairman Rep. Steve Chabot, R-OH, submitted HR4341 for consideration on Jan. 7 and the committee unanimously approved it on Jan. 13.

The bill’s goal is to “expand and improve opportunities for America’s small firms to compete for federal contracts,” Chabot wrote in a news release.

The bill has 17 sections addressing multiple topics.

It includes provisions to:

• Require a “plain language” rewrite of requirements for small business procurements.
• Require additional reporting on set-aside awards to small firms owned by women, service-disabled veterans, HUBZone companies or small disadvantaged firms, in which the firm was acquired after the award.
• Require, for the purpose of determining the percentage of small business procurement, the Small Business Administration to tabulate “total contracts” to include contracts performed overseas and also contracts that are mandated to go to not-small firms.
• Set up a pilot program to allow first tier subcontractors to request a past performance rating.
• Create uniformity in regulations for contracting with service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs). The committee in previous years has had hearings on the difficulties in having separate programs for SDVOSBs managed by the SBA and by the Veterans Affairs Department.

In addition, the bill included an amendment to allow firms to protest task orders over $10 million, according to a report by FedNewsRadio.

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