II
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3699
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 19, 2008
Ms. Snowe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
A BILL
To direct the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to reform and improve the HUBZone program for small business concerns, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as
the HUBZone Improvement Act of
2008
.
Definitions
In this Act—
the terms Administration and Administrator mean the Small Business Administration and the Administrator thereof, respectively;
the terms HUBZone and HUBZone small business concern have the meanings given such terms in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and
the term recertification means determining whether a business concern that was previously determined to be a qualified HUBZone small business concern is a qualified HUBZone small business concern under section 3(p)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(5)).
Purpose; findings
Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to reform and improve the HUBZone program of the Administration.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
The HUBZone program was established under the HUBZone Act of 1997 (Public Law 105–135; 111 Stat. 2627) to stimulate economic development through increased employment and capital investment by providing Federal contracting preferences to small business concerns in economically distressed communities or HUBZone areas.
According to the Government Accountability Office—
as of February 2008, 12,986 certified firms have participated in the HUBZone program since its inception; and
in fiscal year 2007, over 4,200 HUBZone small business concerns obtained approximately $8,100,000,000 in Federal contracts.
The Government Accountability Office also identified numerous concerns with the HUBZone program, including that—
the Administration verifies the information received by the Administration from HUBZone small business concerns in limited instances and has limited assurances that only eligible firms participated in the HUBZone program;
by not obtaining documentation and conducting site visits on a more routine basis during the certification process, the Administration cannot be sure that only eligible firms are part of the HUBZone program; and
although the examination process of the Administration involves a more extensive review of documentation, the examination process cannot be relied upon to ensure that only eligible firms participate in the HUBZone program because the examination process involves only 5 percent of firms in any given year.
HUBZone improvements
The Administrator shall—
as soon as is practicable, correct and update the map that is used by the Administration to identify HUBZones and implement procedures to ensure that the map is updated with the most recently available data on a more frequent basis;
develop and implement guidance for determining whether an applicant is a qualified HUBZone small business concern under section 3(p)(5) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(p)(5)), including more routinely and consistently obtaining supporting documentation from an applicant and conducting more frequent site visits, as appropriate;
establish a date by which the Administrator shall eliminate the backlog of applications for recertification;
ensure that the Administration eliminates the backlog described in paragraph (3) by the date established under paragraph (3), using officers and employees of the Administration or by entering into a contract with a private entity;
establish and implement a time period for completing a recertification; and
develop measures and implement plans to assess the effectiveness of the HUBZone program that take into account—
the economic characteristics of the HUBZone; and
contracts being counted under multiple socioeconomic subcategories.
Report
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 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 regarding the implementation of this Act.