National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 648 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4200.

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AMENDMENT NO. 18 OFFERED BY MR. DAVIS OF ILLINOIS

The text of the amendment is as follows:

At the end of the bill, add the following new title:

TITLE XXXVI-SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 3601. ADDITION OF LANDSCAPING AND PEST CONTROL SERVICES TO LIST OF DESIGNATED INDUSTRY GROUPS PARTICIPATING IN THE SMALL BUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

(a) In General.-Subsection (a) of section 717 of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 644 note) is amended-
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking "and" at the end;

(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting "; and"; and

(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

"(5) landscaping and pest control services.".
(b) Landscaping and Pest Control Services.-Section 717 of the Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 644 note) is amended-
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f), and

(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsection:
"(e) Landscaping and Pest Control Services.-Landscaping and pest control services shall include contract awards assigned to North American Industrial Classification Code 561710 (relating to exterminating and pest control services) or 561730 (relating to landscaping services).".

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, I rise in favor of the en bloc amendment, and especially my amendment dealing with the Comp Demo.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to briefly review my proposed amendment to H.R. 4200.

My amendment is a simple, highly targeted, and non-controversial effort to better balance the way that small business set aside, SBSA, goals are met by Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. Presently, these goals are unevenly distributed with some product and service sectors experiencing a disproportionate rate of small business set aside while other small businesses in other product or service sectors see little in small business set-aside contracts come their way, despite the fact that there are capable small businesses involved in those industries. This can obviously work to deny a large number of small businesses the benefits of the small business set aside program that Congress has long supported.

My amendment would address this problem through a small, targeted improvement of an existing Federal law called the Competitiveness Demonstration Program (P.L. 100-656), also known as the "Comp Demo" law.

The legislative history of Comp Demo shows that it was enacted to prevent disproportionate assignment of small business set aside goals into a small, unrepresentative number of NAICS codes. It began when Congress took major steps to enhance competition and diversity in small business procurement opportunities by enacting section 921 of P.L. 99-661, which requires that small businesses receive a "fair proportion" of Government contracts in each industry.

That effort later led to the enactment of the Comp Demo law. Essentially, Comp Demo recognized that in certain NAICS codes, work was being disproportionately set aside, even though overall small business participation in the open market-place in these industries was high. While these industries had too much work set aside, many more industries have seen little or no set-aside contracts come their way, despite representation of capable small firms in those other industries.

My amendment would build on the existing Comp Demo law by adding the NAICS codes for landscaping services and exterminating & pest control services to the existing Comp Demo list. These two NAICS codes would be added to the existing Comp Demo list which presently includes the NAICS codes for: (1) construction, (2) refuse systems and related services; (3) architectural and engineering services, and (4) non-nuclear ship repair.

Under the Comp Demo law, Federal agencies may not set aside procurements for small businesses in these designated NAICS codes, provided small businesses otherwise win 40 percent of all prime contract awards in that NAICS code. This means that small businesses are required to win a minimum of 40 percent of the prime contract awards. If they do not win that minimum amount, small business set-aside for that NAICS code would be automatically reimposed.

The effective result of both the current Comp Demo law and my amendment is to assure that small business set aside awards are more evenly distributed across all NAICS codes and benefit the greatest number of small businesses in the largest number of product and service sectors possible.

Indeed, the existing Comp Demo law has shown that small businesses in the four NAICS codes on the current Comp Demo list compete for, and win, large numbers of contracts, though on an unrestricted basis. The intent of the Comp Demo program is to ensure that each agency balances its procurement needs so that set aside contracting opportunities for small businesses are as widely distributed as possible across as many industries as possible.

Also important is the fact that the Comp Demo amendment does not affect 8(a) or HUB Zone set asides. They are not impacted by either the current Comp Demo program or my amendment's proposed improvement of the current law.

It is also worthy to note that my proposed amendment of the Comp Demo law has no budgetary impact-that is, amending the program to include landscape services and exterminating and pest control services will not increase the federal deficit.

In sum, Mr. Chairman, the existing Comp Demo program and my amendment to it will require a more even distribution of small business set asides across a larger number of NAICS codes. It does not change or reduce the size of agency small business aside goals; it just makes the programs benefits available to a greater number of small businesses across a larger number of industries.