Small Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Today, we are considering H.R. 7988, which requires SBA to consider new small business government contractors when grading a Federal agency's performance toward meeting its small business goals.

The government has roughly 40 percent fewer small businesses in the ecosystem than it did just a decade ago. This has been an ongoing challenge the committee has identified and sought solutions to reverse because the industrial base decline has produced negative consequences for both the government and small firms alike.

Small firms lose out on the stability government contracting can provide, and the government loses out on the innovation and competition that a larger base of small businesses provides. Yet, despite this decline, Federal agencies award a record amount of contracting dollars to small businesses each year. This means fewer small businesses are getting larger contracts, and since contracts are getting larger, fewer smalls are willing and able to compete for them.

This legislation is a productive step that will help break that cycle. I commend Mr. Stauber and Ms. Perez for their work to craft a solution to this challenge.

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Perez), the cosponsor of the legislation.

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Madam Speaker, at the Department of Defense, GAO found that, over a 10-year period, the number of small businesses participating in the defense industrial base declined by over 40 percent. The civilian agencies are seeing a similar decline.

As a result, questions have been raised about how to accurately measure the health of the industrial base and the scorecard's effectiveness for tracking small business contracting. The scorecard's current criteria include a year-over-year prime contract comparison goal, but it fails to count the award of a contract for the first time.

This bill is intended to measure and include in the SBA's methodology for calculating an agency's score for small business goals the number of small businesses who are becoming Federal Government contractors for the first time.

By requiring a year-over-year comparison of new entrants rather than a single target, Federal agencies will be compelled to continuously focus on bringing in new companies and addressing the barriers, like contract size, that prevent greater small business participation.

I again applaud the work put into this legislation. It is a thoughtful product of bipartisan work.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Stauber and Ms. Perez, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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