S.Amdt. 508

SA 508. Ms. ERNST submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
her to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2024 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 end of subtitle D of title VIII of division A, add
the following:

SEC. 849. PAYMENT OF SUBCONTRACTORS.

Section 8(d)(13) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
637(d)(13)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking ``90 days'' and
inserting ``30 days'';
(2) in subparagraph (C)--
(A) by striking ``contractor shall'' and inserting
``contractor--
``(i) shall'';
(B) in clause (i), as so designated, by striking the period
at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(i) may enter or modify past performance information of
the prime contractor in connection with the unjustified
failure to make a full or timely payment to a subcontractor
subject to this paragraph before or after close-out of the
covered contract.''.
(3) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``subparagraph (E)''
and inserting ``subparagraph (F)'';
(4) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as subparagraph (F);
and
(5) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following":
``(E) Cooperation.--
``(i) In general.--Once a contracting officer determines,
with respect to the past performance of a prime contractor,
that there was an unjustified failure by the prime contractor
on a covered contract to make a full or timely payment to a
subcontractor covered by subparagraph (B) or (C), the prime
contractor is required to cooperate with the contracting
officer, who shall consult with the Director of Small
Business Programs or the Director of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization acting pursuant to section 15(k)(6) and
other representatives of the Government, regarding correcting
and mitigating the unjustified failure to make a full or
timely payment to a subcontractor.
``(ii) Duration.--The duty of cooperation under this
subparagraph for a prime contractor described in clause (i)
continues until the subcontractor is made whole or the
determination of the contracting officer determination is no
longer effective, and regardless of performance or close-out
status of the covered contract.''.
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