Summary#
This bill amends section 10(c) of the Small Business Act to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to submit a detailed report each year at the same time the President's budget is sent to Congress. The report must show how many unique small businesses were certified for participation in certain federal contracting programs and include detailed counts and timing information for certification applications.
The report must include totals and breakdowns such as:
- total number of unique small businesses certified for covered contracting programs;
- counts of applications with enough information for a certification decision, broken down by how many were certified and how many have no decision yet;
- number of applicants seeking certification for two or more covered programs and the share that received multiple certifications;
- number of applications received through the SBA's single, unified application platform and the number certified using other systems;
- for service-disabled veteran-owned small business applications: numbers certified, denied, and pending, and timing information including percent decided within the SBA timeframe and average times for first-time and recertification decisions;
- for women-owned small business applications: numbers certified, number eligible for sole-source awards under section 8(m)(7), number processed by national certifying entities, numbers denied and pending, counts that initially lacked sufficient information, and timing measures including averages and national certifier timing;
- for qualified HUBZone small business applications: numbers certified, denied, pending, and timing measures including percent decided within the SBA timeframe and average times for first-time and recertification decisions.
The bill defines the "covered contracting programs" as contracting assistance provided under sections 8(a), 8(m), 31, and 36 of the Small Business Act.
What it means for you#
- Small businesses seeking certification will be counted in annual, public reporting that shows how many applications were received, approved, denied, or left undecided.
- The report will show how long certification decisions take on average and whether decisions meet SBA timeframes, for first-time and recertification applicants and for specific groups (service-disabled veterans, women-owned, HUBZone).
- The SBA will have a required reporting task tied to the President's annual budget submission.
Expenses#
No publicly available information on costs or budgetary effects is included in the bill text or metadata.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information on supporters' statements or arguments is included in the bill text or metadata.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information on opponents' statements or arguments is included in the bill text or metadata.