Small biz bills’ fate uncertain

      The House and Senate recently approved several end-of-session bills affecting small business federal contracting, but now the fate of those bills is uncertain in the final weeks of the legislative session.

      With fiscal 2019 appropriations and a possible shutdown looming, and a Democratic takeover of the House to occur in January, the lame-duck Congress may have a limited agenda.

      The most significant bill affecting small contractors is the Small Business Runway Extension Act (S3562 and HR 6330). It was introduced in the House by Reps. Steve Knight, R-CA, and Yvette Clarke, D-NY, and in the Senate by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-MD.

      The legislation would modify the Small Business Administration’s size calculation to allow some small businesses to remain “small” for a longer period of time. Under current rules, some small businesses are determined to be small by their average gross receipts, based on three years of receipts. Under the bill, the average would be computed every five years.

      The legislation has been approved by the House, and was OK’d by the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

      Pending bills that have been approved by the House but not yet by the Senate small business committee include these bills:

• HR 6369 would increase the size of sole-source contracts available for small businesses and set up a new eligibility determination process.
• HR 6367 would allow large prime contractors to take credit for subcontracting to small firms at lower tiers. It also creates a new dispute process.
• HR 6382 would require the SBA to report federal spending made through designated “best-in-class” category management acquisition vehicles.
• HR 6368 would modify the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs with the goal of making them easier to use.

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