S.Amdt. 254

SA 254. Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself and Ms. Hirono) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 1790, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2020 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 in title X, insert the following:

SEC. 10__. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF
THE SECTION 809 PANEL RELATING TO SMALL
BUSINESSES.

(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``covered recommendations'' means the
recommendations made by the section 809 panel to--
(A) eliminate existing mandatory small business set-aside
requirements for readily available products and services,
with or without customization; and
(B) prioritize the acquisition of commercial products and
services described in subparagraph (A) and non-developmental
items using a price preference instead of using small
business set-aside programs;
(2) the term ``section 809 panel'' means the advisory panel
established under section 809 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 114-92;
129 Stat. 889); and
(3) the term ``small business concern'' has the meaning
given the term in section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 632(a)).
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the section 809 panel--
(A) has made important contributions through the
recommendations submitted by the panel; and
(B) serves an important role in recommending improvements
to the defense acquisition process;
(2) while well-intentioned, the covered recommendations are
contrary to the policy set forth in section 2(a) of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631(a)), which states that the
security and economic well-being of the United States
``cannot be realized unless the actual and potential capacity
of small business is encouraged and developed''; and
(3) to the maximum extent possible, the Federal Government
should aid, assist, and protect the interests of small
business concerns--
(A) in order to--
(i) preserve free enterprise;
(ii) foster increased competition, which reduces the costs
incurred by the Department of Defense; and
(iii) maintain and strengthen the overall economy of the
United States; and
(B) by ensuring that the Federal Government--
(i) awards a fair proportion of the total number of
contracts and subcontracts for property and services
purchased by the Federal Government, including contracts and
subcontracts for maintenance, repair, and construction, to
small business concerns; and
(ii) makes a fair proportion of the total sales of property
of the Federal Government to small business concerns.
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