I 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 6845 To require officials of the Department of Defense to provide a briefing on the implementation of category management memorandum, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER15, 2023 Mr. T HANEDARintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To require officials of the Department of Defense to provide a briefing on the implementation of category manage- ment memorandum, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equitable Contracting 4 and Small Business Advancement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. BRIEFING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CAT-6 EGORY MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM. 7 (a) B RIEFINGREQUIRED.—Not later than 120 days 8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jan 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6845.IH H6845 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6845 IH thereafter, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition 1 and Sustainment and the Director of the Office of Small 2 Business Programs of the Department of Defense shall 3 jointly provide to the appropriate congressional commit-4 tees a briefing on the implementation of the memorandum 5 by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and 6 Sustainment entitled ‘‘Achieving Small Business Goals 7 through Category Management Practices’’ and dated Jan-8 uary 27, 2023. 9 (b) C ONTENTS.—Each briefing required under sub-10 section (a) shall include the following: 11 (1) The effects of the implementation of the 12 memorandum described in subsection (a) on con-13 tracting opportunities for small businesses. 14 (2) The tools and data analysis that are being 15 used to support small business concerns in procure-16 ment decisions to increase small business opportuni-17 ties. 18 (3) The strategic efforts that have been taken 19 to achieve the small business participation goals of 20 the Department of Defense through the use of exist-21 ing and open market contracts to reach a mix of 22 new entrants, seasoned 8(a) companies, and other 23 small disadvantaged businesses. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jan 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6845.IH H6845 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6845 IH (4) The opportunities that have been identified 1 to transition from bundled or consolidated contracts 2 without small business participation to contracts 3 with small business participation or to use small 4 business set-aside competition. 5 (5) The metrics the Department of Defense has 6 established to measure the effects of the implemen-7 tation of the memorandum described in subsection 8 (a) on opportunities for small businesses to contract 9 with the Department. 10 (6) The success stories of small business par-11 ticipation with the Department of Defense that the 12 Department has identified and is sharing in industry 13 engagements. 14 (7) The sufficiency of the educational resources 15 identified in the memorandum described in sub-16 section (a). 17 (8) Any recommendations on additional steps 18 the Department of Defense can take to maximize 19 small business participation with the Department 20 through category management practices. 21 (c) A PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONALCOMMITTEESDE-22 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-23 sional committees’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jan 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6845.IH H6845 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6845 IH (1) the Committees on Armed Services and 1 Small Business of the House of Representatives; and 2 (2) the Committees on Armed Services and on 3 Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jan 05, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6845.IH H6845 ssavage on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS