Unifying Small Business Terminology Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4325, the Unifying Small Business Terminology Act of 2016. There are many places in which the statutes and regulations small businesses must understand are overly complex.

This problem is compounded by inconsistencies in the language. For example, there are entire sections of the Small Business Act that are one long sentence with multiple commas and clauses.

The act also predates many other statutes and regulations that we now use to govern how agencies purchase goods and services.

As such, the act uses outdated terminology when discussing Federal contracting. Additionally, there are places in which the definitions vary between the act and the corresponding regulations.

One such case is when a contract must be reserved for award to small businesses. While the act indicates that contracts valued over $2,000 and below $100,000 are to be reserved for small businesses, other statutes and even SBA's own regulations point to different values or use the terms the values are supposed to represent.

This causes confusion not only among small businesses, but also to contracting officers as they are left to determine which values to use.

That is why I introduced H.R. 4325, the Unifying Small Business Terminology Act of 2016. The bill amends the Small Business Act so that it has the same terms that are used in titles 10 and 41 of the United States Code and in SBA's own regulation when referring to procurement rules.

This will ensure that there is no confusion among contracting personnel as to which opportunities should be set aside for small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, our committee hears from small businesses almost daily about how difficult it is to navigate the Federal marketplace.

With businesses having to be familiar with small-business regulations, the Federal Acquisition Regulations, and each agency's own FAR supplement, as well as other statutes, the very least we can do is to make sure that all the terminology is consistent.

The changes made in H.R. 4325 will unify the terminology, providing much-needed certainty to both contracting officers and small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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