To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to submit to Congress a report on the utilization of small businesses with respect to certain Federal contracts.

SA 873. Mrs. ERNST (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Ms. Hirono)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R.
2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for military
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. REPORT ON UTILIZATION OF SMALL BUSINESSES FOR
FEDERAL CONTRACTS.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) since the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011
(Public Law 112-25; 125 Stat. 240), many Federal agencies
have started favoring longer-term Federal contracts,
including multiple award contracts, over direct individual
awards;
(2) these multiple award contracts have grown to more than
one-fifth of Federal contract spending, with the fastest
growing multiple award contracts surpassing $100,000,000 in
obligations for the first time between 2013 and 2014;
(3) in fiscal year 2017, 17 of the 20 largest Federal
contract opportunities are multiple award contracts;
(4) while Federal agencies may choose to use any or all of
the various socio-economic groups on a multiple award
contract, the Small Business Administration only examines
socio-economic performance through the small business
procurement scorecard and does not examine potential
opportunities by those groups; and
(5) Congress and the Department of Justice have been clear
that no individual socio-economic group shall be given
preference over another.
(b) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of
the Small Business Administration;
(2) the term ``covered small business concerns'' means--
(A) HUBZone small business concerns;
(B) small business concerns owned and controlled by
service-disabled veterans;
(C) small business concerns owned and controlled by women;
and
(D) socially and economically disadvantaged small business
concerns, as defined in section 8(a)(4)(A) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(4)(A)), receiving assistance
under such section 8(a); and
(3) the terms ``HUBZone small business concern'', ``small
business concern'', ``small business concern owned and
controlled by service-disabled veterans'', and ``small
business concern owned and controlled by women'' have the
meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Small Business
Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
(c) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the
Senate and the Committee on Small Business of the House of
Representatives a report that includes--
(A) a determination as to whether small business concerns
and each category of covered small business concerns
described in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of subsection
(b)(2) are being utilized in a significant portion of the
Federal market on multiple award contracts, including--
(i) whether awards are being reserved for 1 or more of
those categories; and
(ii) whether each such category is being given the
opportunity to perform on multiple award contracts;
(B) a determination as to whether performance requirements
for multiple award contracts, as in effect on the day before
the date of enactment of this Act, are feasible and
appropriate for small business concerns; and
(C) any additional information as the Administrator may
determine necessary.
(2) Requirement.--In making the determinations required
under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall use information
from multiple award contracts--
(A) with varied assigned North American Industry
Classification System codes; and
(B) that were awarded by not less than 8 Federal agencies.
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