Wosb Certification and Opportunity Expansion Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7105) to establish requirements relating to certification of small business concerns owned and controlled by women for certain purposes, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7105

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 ``WOSB Certification and Opportunity Expansion Act''. SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF SELF-CERTIFIED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY WOMEN FROM GOALS.

(a) Exclusion of Self-Certified WOSBs From Governmentwide and Agency Goals.--

(1) In general.--Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

``(4) Exclusion of self-certified wosbs from goals.--Only small business concerns owned and controlled by women that have been certified under section 8(m)(2)(E) shall be included in calculating the goals established--

``(A) under paragraph (1)(A)(v); and

``(B) by the head of a Federal agency for small business concerns owned and controlled by women under paragraph (2).''.

(2) Effective date.--The amendments made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the first day after the end of the second fiscal year beginning after the Administrator issues the regulations required under subsection (b)(2).

(b) Requirements Relating to Self-Certified WOSBs.--

(1) Inclusion of certain self-certified wosbs in goals.--

(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a small business concern described in subparagraph (B) shall be deemed to have been certified by the Administrator or a national certifying entity approved by the Administrator under section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) as a small business concern owned and controlled by women under paragraph (2)(E) of such section (15 U.S.C. 637(m)(2)(E)) for the purposes of calculating the goals described in paragraph (4) of section 15(g) of the such Act (as added by subsection (a) of this Act) until the Administrator or such a national certifying entity make a determination with respect to the certification of such concern.

(B) Small business concerns described.--A small business concern described in this subparagraph is a small business concern--

(i) that is self-certified as a small business concern owned and controlled by women as of the date on which the amendments made by subsection (a) take effect;

(ii) that files a certification application with the Administrator or a national certifying entity approved by the Administrator under section 8(m) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(m)) prior to such date; and

(iii) for which the Administrator or such a national certifying entity does not make a determination prior to such date regarding certification pursuant to such certification application.

(2) Rulemaking.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue regulations carrying out this section.

(c) Quarterly Briefings Required.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and on a quarterly basis thereafter until the date specified in subsection (b), the Administrator shall provide to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate a briefing on the implementation of the requirements of this section. Such briefings shall include--

(1) the total number of small business concerns expected to seek certification as a small business concern owned and controlled by women;

(2) the number of applications for certification pending with the Administrator or a national certifying entity approved by the Administrator under section 8(m) of the Small Business Act during the period covered by the briefing;

(3) the total number of applications approved by the Administrator or such a national certifying entity since the date of the enactment of this Act;

(4) the timelines associated with processing such applications by the Administrator or such a national certifying entity between submission and approval;

(5) the administrative costs to the Administration to make determinations on such applications and the estimated cost to such applicant to seek certification from a national certifying entity;

(6) a discussion of the Administrator's current and future outreach efforts to small business concerns owned and controlled by women and to Federal agencies on the requirements of this Act; and

(7) recommendations for additional legislative authority or resources required to fully implement the requirements of this Act.

(d) Definitions.--In this section:

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

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

(3) 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).

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

(e) 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 in support of H.R. 7105, the WOSB Certification and Opportunity Expansion Act, sponsored by the Committee on Small Business' Ranking Member Velazquez.

One of the Committee on Small Business' top priorities is combating fraud and abuse within the government's contracting programs. Small business participation in Federal contracting ensures a strong and resilient industrial base.

Congress sets a governmentwide goal to spend at least 5 percent of its procurement dollars with women-owned small businesses. However, since this goal contains self-certified firms, it is hard to tell the accuracy of the data. This bill would remove self-certified firms from this governmentwide goal. This will add accountability measures to make sure the businesses competing for these contracting dollars are not misrepresenting themselves.

I was proud to work with the ranking member on this important piece of legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 7105 and ensure that certified women small business owners are not unfairly shut out of the Federal marketplace by fraudsters.
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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation from Ranking Member Velazquez and Congressman LaLota. I yield back the balance of my time.

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