Wosb Accountability 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. 1816) 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. 1816

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 Accountability 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) No Additional Funds Authorized.--No additional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1816, the WOSB Accountability Act, introduced by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaLota).

H.R. 1816 prohibits agencies from counting self-certified women-owned small business contractors, otherwise known as WOSBs, toward an agency's women-owned small business contracting goals.

The committee has repeatedly found that programs that allow self- certification are far more susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse. After years of hard work removing self-certification from other contracting goals, this bill is an opportunity to remove it from one of the two remaining statutorily defined small business contracting goals.

I am proud of this committee's work to remove self-certification in other programs, such as service-disabled veteran-owned small business contractors. Now, it is time to do the same with the WOSB program to help ensure integrity across SBA programs.

While we continue to have conversations on how to better align small businesses' contracting goals with merit-based principles, this bill would reduce the ability of fraudsters to exploit the system that is currently in place.

By mitigating the ability to defraud government contracts, we help ensure that taxpayer dollars are used as intended and help create a more level playing field between the WOSB program and other small business set-aside programs.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 1816, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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