[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6347 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6347
To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to
establish a pilot procurement program for military spouses, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 23, 2021
Ms. 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Military Spouse Entrepreneurs Act of
2021''.
SEC. 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.
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