Outreach Help
For Primes & Gov't
Diverse Biz Help
For DBEs, VetBiz, etc.
Sales & Support
100% US-based
For Primes & Gov't
For DBEs, VetBiz, etc.
100% US-based
A set of companion bills (meaning that the bills are identical), HR8511 and S4390, have recently been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, which, if passed, would eliminate the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program, the Minority Business Development Act of 2021, and the federal Department of Transportation's (DOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program in their entirety.
The bills were introduced by Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin in the House and Mike Lee of Utah in the Senate, and were given the title "Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act". The bills operate by striking and repealing every part of the Small Business Act establishing preferences for small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SDBs) or by women (WOSBs) (including provisions relating to Alaska Native Corporations, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian Organizations), as well as by eliminating the DBE program, both in the provisions relating to the Department of Transportation and in its place in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and the associated EPA DBE program.
The bills then go further to add new provisions barring federal governmental agencies from considering "race, ethnicity, or sex" when granting contracts or awards. The bill does, however, preserve the HUBZone, veteran-owned (VOSB), and service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) preference programs of the SBA.
An analysis by JD Supra notes that neither of the bills currently have co-sponsors, and have been referred to multiple committees simultaneously (which will have the effect of slowing down deliberation), but it cautions that the bills' proposed effects and priorities align with recent actions by the executive branch.
Find the bills at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8511/text?s=1&r=14 and at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4390/text?s=1&r=5.
