H.R. 6347 — Introduced in House

I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 6347 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 23, 2021Ms. Strickland (for herself, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, and Mr. Carson) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business A BILL To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a pilot procurement program for military spouses, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Military Spouse Entrepreneurs Act of 2021. 2. Pilot procurement program for military spouses (a) Establishment The Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall carry out a pilot program to establish a procurement program for military spouses. (b) Authority To restrict competition In accordance with this subsection, a contracting officer may restrict competition for any contract for the procurement of goods or services by the Federal Government to small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses, if— (1) each of the concerns is not less than 51 percent owned by one or more military spouses; (2) the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses will submit offers for the contract; (3) in the estimation of the contracting officer, the contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price; and (4) each of the concerns is certified by the Administrator or a third party certifying entity as a small business concern owned and controlled by military spouses. (c) Authority for sole source contracts A contracting officer may award a sole source contract under this subsection to any small business concern owned and controlled by military spouses described in subsection (b) if— (1) such concern is determined to be a responsible contractor with respect to performance of the contract opportunity and the contracting officer does not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses will submit offers for the contract; and (2) in the estimation of the contracting officer, the contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price. (d) Governmentwide goal The Administrator shall establish a Governmentwide goal for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses at not less than 5 percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract awards for each year of the pilot program. (e) Report Not later than 1 year after the termination date described in subsection (f), the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot program established under this section, including— (1) the number of small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses that participated in the pilot program; (2) data on the effectiveness of the pilot program in encouraging contracting with small business concerns owned and controlled by military spouses; (3) information on whether the goal described in subsection (e) was met; (4) data on oversight of the pilot program; and (5) recommendations for— (A) any improvements to the pilot program; and (B) whether to make the pilot program permanent. (f) Termination The pilot program established under this section shall terminate not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. (g) Definitions In this section: (1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration. (2) Contracting officer The term contracting officer has the meaning given such term in section 27(f)(5) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423(f)(5)). (3) Military spouse The term military spouse means a current or former spouse of— (A) a veteran; or (B) a member of the Armed Forces (as those terms are defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code). (4) Small business concern owned and controlled by military spouses The term small business concern owned and controlled by military spouses means a small business concern— (A) (i) not less than 51 percent of which is owned by one or more military spouses or, in the case of any publicly owned business, not less than 51 percent of the stock of which is owned by one or more military spouses; and (ii) the management and daily business operations of which are controlled by one or more military spouses; or (B) that is 50 percent owned by a veteran and 50 percent owned by a military spouse of such veteran. (5) Veteran The term veteran has the meaning given in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.