On July 10, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee approved, 18-0, legislation (S. 1375) that would reauthorize programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA) through FY2006. The measure marks the 50th anniversary of the Small Business Act, which created the SBA.
Committee Chair and bill sponsor Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said passage of the Small Business Administration 50th Anniversary Reauthorization Act of 2003 paves the way for a stronger SBA. “This bill will lead to a new SBA, dedicated to improving the environment and leveling the playing field for small business ownership in America,” said Sen. Snowe.
S. 1375 incorporates provisions of the Women’s Small Business Improvement Act (S. 1154), Sen. Snowe’s bill that aims to strengthen the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership, the National Women’s Business Council, the Women’s Business Centers Program, and the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise, which would in turn make recommendations for programs that would assist women-owned small businesses. The new programs and services would address problems concerning business operations, manufacturing, technology, finance, federal government contracting and international trade.
The bill would make permanent the Women’s Business Centers program, which had been scheduled to sunset this year. It also would be restructured to offer competitive grants for both new and successful existing centers. Established in 1988, the program provides long-term training and counseling for women entrepreneurs in almost every state. In FY2002, the SBA estimated that the program had an approximate return of $161 for every $1 invested in the program.
It also would direct federal agencies to develop marketing and outreach programs, as well as procurement training programs, on federal government contracting, in an effort to limit the practice of contract “bundling,” which small businesses say has hampered their ability to win federal government contracts. Contract bundling is the practice by a federal department or agency of consolidating several small projects, which would normally be contracted out separately, into one single mega-contract that favors large companies. S. 1375 also would require studies of any contract bundling in excess of $5 million at the Department of Defense and $2 million at other federal agencies.
The bill would expedite the completion of a GAO study required as part of legislation (P.L. 106-165) approved by Congress in 1999, creating a Procurement Program for Women-Owned Small Business Concerns. Before the procurement set-asides for women-owned businesses can be implemented, the law requires that a GAO study first be conducted to prove that such businesses have been treated unfairly. S. 1375 would require that the study be completed by the end of this year.
S. 1375 would authorize $225 million in technical assistance and $315 million in direct loans to small businesses through FY2006. The bill also would authorize a number of loan guarantee programs, and increase the amount that small businesses can borrow under an SBA loan guarantee.
The Committee also approved, by voice vote, an en bloc amendment that included a proposal by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) aimed at protecting the independence of the National Women’s Business Council by requiring that vacancies on the Council are filled quickly to ensure a bipartisan membership.
