II 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION S. 592 To amend the Small Business Act to require that plain writing statements regarding the solicitation of subcontractors be included in certain subcon- tracting plans, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY13, 2025 Mr. R ISCH(for himself, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. Y OUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship A BILL To amend the Small Business Act to require that plain writing statements regarding the solicitation of sub- contractors be included in certain subcontracting plans, 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 ‘‘Simplifying Subcon-4 tracting Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S592.IS S592 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •S 592 IS SEC. 2. PLAIN WRITING APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 1 SOLICITATION OF SUBCONTRACTORS. 2 (a) I NGENERAL.—Section 8(d) of the Small Busi-3 ness Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)) is amended— 4 (1) in paragraph (6)— 5 (A) in subparagraph (H)(ii), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (B) in subparagraph (I)(ii), by striking the 8 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(J) a representation that— 11 ‘‘(i) the offeror or bidder will communicate 12 all solicitations of subcontracts in plain writing 13 (as defined in section 3 of the Plain Writing 14 Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–274; 124 Stat. 15 2861)) so that the solicitation is easily under-16 stood by small business concerns seeking to ob-17 tain a subcontracting opportunity from the of-18 feror or bidder; and 19 ‘‘(ii) the offeror or bidder will include the 20 plain writing requirement described in clause (i) 21 in all subcontracts that offer subcontracting op-22 portunities.’’; and 23 (2) by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘(18) C OMPLIANCE WITH PLAIN WRITING RE -25 QUIREMENT.—If the Administrator determines that 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S592.IS S592 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •S 592 IS a prime contractor failed to communicate any solici-1 tation of a subcontract in plain writing in accord-2 ance with paragraph (6)(J), the prime contractor 3 shall communicate a new solicitation of the sub-4 contract in plain writing not later than 30 days after 5 the date on which the Administrator made that de-6 termination.’’. 7 (b) R ULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 8 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 9 Small Business Administration shall promulgate regula-10 tions to carry out paragraphs (6)(J) and (18) of section 11 8(d) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(d)), as 12 added by subsection (a). 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Mar 07, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S592.IS S592 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS