The Wosb Integrity Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7128) to establish requirements relating to size standard compliance of small business concerns owned and controlled by women for certain purposes, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7128

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 ``The WOSB Integrity Act of 2024''. SEC. 2. WOMEN OWNED SMALL BUSINESS SIZE STANDARD COMPLIANCE FOR RESTRICTED COMPETITION.

(a) In General.--Section 8(m)(2)(E) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)(E)) is amended by inserting ``, including that each such concern does not exceed the applicable size standard established under section 3(a)'' after ``by women''.

(b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall not be construed as disqualifying any small business concern owned and controlled by women that, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, is certified by a Federal agency, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, or a national certifying entity approved by the Administrator as a small business concern owned and controlled by women from competing for contracts restricted under section 8(m)(2) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)) before the earlier of--

(1) the date on which the small business concern owned and controlled by women submits a notice that such concern is no longer a small business concern owned and controlled by women; or

(2) the date on which the Administrator, Federal agency, or entity that provided such certification determines that the concern exceeds the applicable size standard established under section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)).

(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to require the Administrator to perform a formal size determination on a small business concern when considering an application from such concern for certification as a small business concern owned and controlled by women.

(d) Definitions.--In this Act:

(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.

(2) Small business concern.--The term ``small business concern'' has the meaning given under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

(3) Small business concern owned and controlled by women.-- The term ``small business concern'' and ``small business concern owned and controlled by women'' has the meaning given in section 8(m)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(1)).

(e) Technical Amendment.--Section 8(m)(2)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ``paragraph (3)'' and inserting ``paragraph (4)''.

(f) Compliance With CUTGO.--No additional amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act or the amendments made by this Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7128, The WOSB Integrity Act of 2024, sponsored by Representative Maloy from the great State of Utah.

The WOSB Integrity Act removes self-certification of size from this contracting program that is reserved for women-owned small businesses.

It is vital that there are programs to help small business owners access Federal contracting opportunities. That is where the Small Business Administration's women-owned small business program, also known as WOSB, comes in. This program allows women entrepreneurs to compete for unique contracting opportunities.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government currently does not independently verify that these businesses are truly small businesses. Firms can simply self-certify themselves as small businesses, potentially leading to misrepresentation and fraud to obtain contracting opportunities.

It is vital that women-owned entrepreneurs who participate in the WOSB do not have to worry that their competitors misrepresent themselves as a small business.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R.

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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Maloy).

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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation from Congresswoman Maloy and Scholten, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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