Small Business Contracting Fraud Prevention Act of 2011
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Small Business.
Small Business Contracting Fraud Prevention Act of 2011 - (Sec. 3) Amends the Small Business Act to include under penalties for misrepresentation a business that misrepresents itself as a small business owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Includes under such penalties misrepresentation for purposes of the award of a grant or cooperative agreement through the Small Business Administration (SBA). (Current law addresses only awards of prime contracts or subcontracts.) Expands authorized remedies to include civil remedies available under the False Claims Act, as well as the amount actually received from the federal government under a contract, grant or cooperative agreement, or losses sustained. Provides additional events or instances under which a person shall be considered to have misrepresented its status.
(Sec. 4) Requires an entity seeking status as a small business owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans to submit an annual certification of such status, and to register with specified databases that track veteran small businesses. Includes as a service-disabled veteran, for such status purposes, a former member of the Armed Forces who is retired or separated due to physical disability. Directs: (1) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to verify such status, and (2) the head of a federal agency awarding a sole source contract to such business to use the appropriate database to verify such status. Provides for small business debarment and suspension for violations. Requires the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy and the Secretary to ensure the appropriate sharing of database information for such purposes. Requires the Secretary, if unable to determine the service-disabled status of the owners of a small business within one year after the enactment of this Act, to submit to the congressional small business and veterans committees an estimate of the date of such determination.
(Sec. 5) Amends the 8(a) (SBA general small business loan) program to direct the Comptroller General, every three years, to evaluate the 8(a) program and report evaluation results to the small business committees. Requires related 8(a) program oversight by the SBA Administrator.
The summary continues for 3 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed Senate amended" stage on September 21, 2011. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 22, 2011: Referred to the House Committee on Small Business.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced it on March 17, 2011, and 13 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 6 Democrats, 7 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 17, 2011, 5656 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5467 days ago, on September 22, 2011.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers