S. 2138

Small Business Subcontracting Transparency Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Small Business Act to revise requirements with respect to the Small Business Administration (SBA) review and acceptance of subcontracting plans.

If a contractor or subcontractor fails to comply in good faith with assurances for the submission of periodic reports and cooperate in any studies or surveys required by the federal agency or the SBA to determine the extent of compliance with the contracting plan, such failure shall be a material breach of the contract or subcontract and may be considered in any past performance evaluation of the contractor.

(Sec. 3) The bill eliminates the limitation that SBA findings submitted to an appropriate federal agency after review of solicitations for procurement contracts be "advisory in nature."

(Sec. 4) A federal agency's procurement center representative (PCR) or commercial market representative (CMR) may delay acceptance of a subcontracting plan for 30 days if the PCR or CMR determines that it fails to provide the maximum practicable opportunity for certain covered small businesses to participate in the performance of the applicable contract. The written notice of such determination to the contracting agency's head of the procuring activity must include recommendations for altering the plan to provide the maximum practicable opportunity.

In the case of a Department of Defense PCR or CMR, the acceptance may be delayed for only 15 days. This delayed acceptance authority, however, does not include delay of the award or performance of the contract.

A PCR or CMR may not delay acceptance of a subcontracting plan if the head of the contracting agency certifies that the agency's need for the supplies or services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the United States would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to accept the subcontracting plan.

(Sec. 5) The SBA shall issue regulations providing examples of activities that would be considered a failure to make a good faith effort to comply with the requirements imposed on any entity (other than a small business) awarded a prime contract exceeding a certain amount that contains certain required SBA clauses regarding subcontracting plans.