cerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women. The Government-wide goal for participation by small business concerns shall be established at not less than 23 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for each fiscal year. The Government-wide goal for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans shall be established at not less than 3 percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract awards for each fiscal year. The Governmentwide goal for participation by qualified HUBZone small business concerns shall be established at not less than 1 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for fiscal year 1999, not less than 1.5 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for fiscal year 2000, not less than 2 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for fiscal year 2001, not less than 2.5 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for fiscal year 2002, and not less than 3 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards for fiscal year 2003 and each fiscal year thereafter. The Government-wide goal for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals shall be established at not less than 5 percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract awards for each fiscal year. The Government-wide goal for participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by women shall be established at not less than 5 percent of the total value of all prime contract and subcontract awards for each fiscal year. Notwithstanding the Government-wide goal, each agency shall have an annual goal that presents, for that agency, the maximum practicable opportunity for small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women to participate in the performance of contracts let by such agency. The Administration and the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy shall, when exercising their authority pursuant to paragraph (2), insure that the cumulative annual prime contract goals for all agencies meet or exceed the annual Government-wide prime contract goal established by the President pursuant to this paragraph.

(2) The head of each Federal agency shall, after consultation with the Administration, establish goals for the participation by small business concerns, by small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, 21 by qualified HUBZone small business concerns, by small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and by small business concerns owned and controlled by women in procurement contracts of such agency. Goals established under this subsection shall be jointly established by the Administration and the head of each Federal agency and shall realistically reflect the

21 The amendments made by section 502(b) of Public Law 106-50 (113 Stat. 247) were executed as the probable intent of Congress. The reference to "section 15" should have been to "section 15(g)(2)".

potential of small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, 21 qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women to perform such contracts and to perform subcontracts under such contracts. Whenever the Administration and the head of any Federal agency fail to agree on established goals, the disagreement shall be submitted to the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy for final determination. For the purpose of establishing goals under this subsection, the head of each Federal agency shall make consistent efforts to annually expand participation by small business concerns from each industry category in procurement contracts of the agency, including participation by small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, by 22 qualified HUBZone small business concerns, by small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and by small business concerns owned and controlled by women. The head of each Federal agency, in attempting to attain such participation, shall consider

(A) contracts awarded as the result of unrestricted competition; and

(B) contracts awarded after competition restricted to eligible small business concerns under this section and under the program established under section 8(a).

(h)(1) At the conclusion of each fiscal year, the head of each Federal agency shall report to the Administration on the extent of participation by small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans (including service-disabled veterans), qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women in procurement contracts of such agency. Such reports shall contain appropriate justifications for failure to meet the goals established under subsection (g) of this section.

(2) The Administration shall annually compile and analyze the reports submitted by the individual agencies pursuant to paragraph (1) and shall submit them to the President and the Congress. The Administration's submission to the President shall include the following:

(A) The Government-wide goals for participation by small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women and the performance in attaining such goals.

(B) The goals in effect for each agency and the agency's performance in attaining such goals.

(C) An analysis of any failure to achieve the Governmentwide goals or any individual agency goals and the actions. planned by such agency (and approved by the Administration) to achieve the goals in the succeeding fiscal year.

22 See footnote on previous page.

(D) The number and dollar value of contracts awarded to small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women through—

(i) noncompetitive negotiation,

(ii) competition restricted to small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,

(iii) competition restricted to small business concerns, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, and

(iv) unrestricted competitions,

for each agency and on a Government-wide basis.

(E) The number and dollar value of subcontracts awarded to small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by

women.

(F) The number and dollar value of prime contracts and subcontracts awarded to small business concerns owned and controlled by women.

(3) The President shall include the information required by paragraph (2) in each annual report to the Congress on the state of small business prepared pursuant to section 303(a) of the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 631b(a)).

(i) Nothing in this Act or any other provision of law precludes exclusive small business set-asides for procurements of architectural and engineering services, research, development, test and evaluation, and each Federal agency is authorized to develop such set-asides to further the interests of small business in those areas.

(j)(1) Each contract for the purchase of goods and services that has an anticipated value greater than $2,500 but not greater than $100,000 shall be reserved exclusively for small business concerns unless the contracting officer is unable to obtain offers from two or more small business concerns that are competitive with market prices and are competitive with regard to the quality and delivery of the goods or services being purchased.

(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), a contracting officer shall consider a responsive offer timely received from an eligible small business offeror.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be construed as precluding an award of a contract with a value not greater than $100,000 under the authority of subsection (a) of section 8 of this Act, section 2323 of title 10, United States Code, section 712 of the Business Opportunity Development Reform Act of 1988 (Public Law 100656; 15 U.S.C. 644 note), or section 7102 of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994.

(k) There is hereby established in each Federal agency having procurement powers an office to be known as the "Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization". The management of each

such office shall be vested in an officer or employee of such agency who shall

(1) be known as the "Director of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization" for such agency,

(2) be appointed by the head of such agency,

(3) be responsible only to, and report directly to, the head of such agency or to the deputy of such head, except that the director for the Office of the Secretary of Defense shall be responsible only to, and report directly to, such Secretary or the Secretary's designee,

(4) be responsible for the implementation and execution of the functions and duties under sections 8 and 15 of this Act which relate to such agency,

(5) identify proposed solicitations that involve significant bundling of contract requirements, and work with the agency acquisition officials and the Administration to revise the procurement strategies for such proposed solicitations where appropriate to increase the probability of participation by small businesses as prime contractors, or to facilitate small business participation as subcontractors and suppliers, if a solicitation for a bundled contract is to be issued;

(6) assist small business concerns to obtain payments, required late payment interest penalties, or information regarding payments due to such concerns from an executive agency or a contractor, in conformity with chapter 39 of title 31, United States Code, or any other protection for contractors or subcontractors (including suppliers) that is included in the Federal Acquisition Regulation or any individual agency supplement to such Government-wide regulation;

(7) have supervisory authority over personnel of such agency to the extent that the functions and duties of such personnel relate to functions and duties under sections 8 and 15 of this Act,

(8) assign a small business technical adviser to each office to which the Administration has assigned a procurement center representative

(A) who shall be a full-time employee of the procuring activity and shall be well qualified, technically trained and familiar with the supplies or services purchased at the activity, and

(B) whose principal duty shall be to assist the Administration procurement center representative in his duties and functions relating to sections 8 and 15 of this Act, (9) cooperate, and consult on a regular basis, with the Administration with respect to carrying out the functions and duties described in paragraph (4) of this subsection, and

(10) make recommendations to contracting officers as to whether a particular contract requirement should be awarded pursuant to subsection (a), or section 8(a) of this Act or section 2323 of title 10, United States Code. Such recommendations shall be made with due regard to the requirements of subsection (m), and the failure of the contracting officer to accept any such recommendations shall be documented and included within the appropriate contract file.

This subsection shall not apply to the Administration.

(1)(1) The Administration shall assign to each major procurement center a breakout procurement center representative with such assistance as may be appropriate. The breakout procurement center representative shall carry out the activities described in paragraph (2), and shall be an advocate for the breakout of items for procurement through full and open competition, whenever appropriate, while maintaining the integrity of the system in which such items are used, and an advocate for the use of full and open competition, whenever appropriate, for the procurement of supplies and services by such center. Any breakout procurement center representative assigned under this subsection shall be in addition to the representative referred to in subsection (k)(6).

(2) In addition to carrying out the responsibilities assigned by the Administration, a breakout procurement center representative is authorized to

(A) attend any provisioning conference or similar evaluation session during which determinations are made as to whether requirements are to be procured through other than full and open competition and make recommendations with respect to such requirements to the members of such conference or session;

(B) review, at any time, restrictions on competition previously imposed on items through acquisition method coding or similar procedures, and recommend to personnel of the appropriate activity the prompt reevaluation of such limitations;

(C) review restrictions on competition arising out of restrictions on the rights of the United States in technical data, and, when appropriate, recommend that personnel of the appropriate activity initiate a review of the validity of such an asserted restriction;

(D) obtain from any governmental source, and make available to personnel of the appropriate activity, technical data necessary for the preparation of a competitive solicitation package for any item of supply or service previously procured noncompetitively due to the unavailability of such technical data;

(E) have access to procurement records and other data of the procurement center commensurate with the level of such representative's approved security clearance classification;

(F) receive unsolicited engineering proposals and, when appropriate (i) conduct a value analysis of such proposal to determine whether such proposal, if adopted, will result in lower costs to the United States without substantially impeding legitimate acquisition objectives and forward to personnel of the appropriate activity recommendations with respect to such proposal, or (ii) forward such proposals without analysis to personnel of the activity responsible for reviewing such proposals and who shall furnish the breakout procurement center representative with information regarding the disposition of any such proposal; and

(G) review the systems that account for the acquisition and management of technical data within the procurement center to assure that such systems provide the maximum availability and access to data needed for the preparation of offers to sell to the United States those supplies to which such data pertain which potential offerors are entitled to receive.