Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2781) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to certify the sufficient participation of small business concerns owned and controlled and owned by veterans and small business concerns owned by veterans with service-connected disabilities in contracts under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2781, as amended, the Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act.

H.R. 2781 is another piece of thoughtful contracting legislation sponsored by a hardworking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Dr. Neal Dunn. This bill will make sure that all small businesses owned by veterans and service-disabled veterans are never excluded from a particular group of contracts run by the General Services Administration, or GSA.

Despite Congress' efforts to give our veterans maximum opportunity in VA contracting, the system does not always work as it should. This bill fixes a loophole that has cropped up recently and makes sure veteran businesses are not inadvertently ignored when VA uses these GSA contracts.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2781, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Dunn), a veteran and the author of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost), the subcommittee chair on the committee and a marine veteran.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman), the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chair and a marine who served with distinction.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

In closing, I would certainly urge everyone to support this actionable piece of legislation.

During the last 6\1/2\ months, the Veterans' Affairs Committee has been a very active committee. When we realized that our Choice Program was running short of funds, the committee, in a bipartisan way, voted to extend that.

We have also realized that there are 470,000 veterans whose claims are in appeals and have not been adjudicated. We realize that program is not functioning as it should. The House acted quickly, was bipartisan. That legislation has now been passed out of the Senate VA Committee and is awaiting action by the floor. We hope to have it passed and signed into law soon.

We knew that the Secretary of the VA said he had problems, that he couldn't--most VA employees are terrific. Some of my best friends work at the VA. But there are some not good employees out of the 370,000 there, and the Secretary said, to do his job, to reform the VA, he needed a bill where he could terminate poor-performing employees, and this House and Senate gave him that. The President has signed that into law.

The Secretary has also moved in speeding up the electronic health record transformation into a modern off-the-shelf system. We debated on this floor, today, the Post-9/11 GI Bill update, which is a tremendous benefit for veterans, and decades from now we will look back on this debate we had on the floor, I think, with some admiration as I do. It has been a true privilege and pleasure to be on this committee and to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to take care of these important issues this committee has produced. It will make this promise to our veterans of this country; it will continue to produce results for them.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2781, the Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act.

It is a bill that the kind gentleman from Florida and I have sponsored so that it is easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to contract with the very veterans whom they serve.

As a veteran and someone who has worked with veterans, I understand the challenges our servicemembers can face when they transition from military to civilian life. That is why we in Congress are working to serve those who served us by opening every opportunity for our veterans to thrive and contribute not just to our communities, but to our country.

Throughout the United States, there are many quality veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses that sell office and janitorial supplies or provide building maintenance services. Those businesses and the government would mutually benefit if the businesses seeking Federal contracts were given a fair chance to compete.

But as it stands now, veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are losing out on such opportunities because of an unintentional loophole when the VA contracts with the General Services Administration, the GSA, for office and janitorial services, equipment, and supplies.

Now, that loophole opened up last year when the VA implemented the Kingdomware Supreme Court ruling. Normally, when it comes to its contracts, the VA ensures that veteran-owned small businesses are considered in the bidding process. But the Kingdomware ruling required that the VA set aside contracts for veteran-owned small businesses when there are two or more companies that are interested, capable, and can perform at a fair and reasonable price. So when the VA contracts with the GSA for janitorial or office supplies, the GSA is not giving veteran-owned businesses the proper consideration for those types of contracts; thus, the requirement to consider veteran-owned businesses is not being implemented.

Fortunately, this bill, our bill, Democrats' and Republicans' bill, would close that loophole. It would require the VA Secretary to work with the GSA to increase the number of service-disabled veteran and veteran-owned small businesses represented in that contracting process.

The bill would eliminate that barrier that limited our veterans and their businesses from contracting with the government. It is a solution that is fair to veteran entrepreneurs. It is a bill that has strong bipartisan support. It is a bill that moved through the House Veterans' Affairs Committee with unanimous consent, and it is a bill that all of us are proud of, Democrats and Republicans, and that is why I am proud to sponsor this bill. I am proud to present it to you with the gentleman from Florida because it will do

what is smart for our country's veterans, and that is why I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2781 is a commonsense solution to a complicated problem. I am proud to sponsor it with my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).

Over the last 10 years, Congress gave veteran and veteran service- disabled veteran-owned small businesses the highest preference to compete for VA contracts. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in the Kingdomware case that this preference applies in all situations, even when VA uses contracts awarded by other agencies. A loophole has emerged in a group of contracts called the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative run by the General Services Administration.

Currently, the VA uses the GSA to connect them with suppliers of certain goods and services that they need to purchase. All too often, the GSA is not connecting the VA with enough small businesses that are owned by veterans and service-disabled veterans. The law requires that the VA look for these companies and buy from them when it can, if they are competitive; but when the veteran businesses are not on the GSA list, the VA can't find them or use them.

Because of the loophole, well-qualified veteran-owned companies are being passed over. In some cases, VA disregards the GSA contracts and finds veteran-owned companies elsewhere on their own, but this wastes resources by creating contracts similar to what the GSA already has in place.

This bill simply directs the VA Secretary to determine whether veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are sufficiently represented on the contracts for VA to follow the law. If not, the VA must consult with the GSA to increase the representation on all the contracts and their subcategories. Should this not be possible on a particular contract or subcategory, the VA must stop using it.

I am honored that this bill has earned the support of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the National Veteran Small Business Coalition. We need to hold the VA accountable to the veterans it serves, including our veteran and service-disabled small business owners. It is the right thing to do, and I urge all Members to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2781. As said, the bill would require the VA Secretary and the General Services Administration to increase the number of veteran-owned small businesses and service- disabled veteran-owned small businesses on the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative. The Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative increases cost savings, value, and socioeconomic participation for the sourcing of government contracts and ensures that our government has a community of businesses to strategically source from.

Ensuring more veteran-owned small business and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses are on the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative means that taxpayer dollars are spent on contracts that add value to the U.S. Government, at the same time supporting veteran-owned businesses--smart legislation, again, the right thing to do.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this piece of legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta), one of the coauthors of this bill and a veteran himself and a champion of veterans since he has been in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. Again, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2781.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join Dr. Dunn and Mr. Panetta in supporting H.R. 2781, the Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act. This bill and my bill are complementary legislation.

In addition to the vital healthcare and benefits VA provides to our veterans, it also awards billions of dollars of contracts annually to their small businesses. The impact of these contracts to support livelihoods and create jobs all over our country cannot be overstated.

Just as veteran businessowners must abide by the rules, VA must abide by the rules and make available to them the contracting opportunities they have earned. Federal procurement is a very complicated system that sometimes produces strange outcomes. We must continue to work on that procurement and make sure that it functions properly.

I strongly urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2781.