To prohibit the Small Business Administration from awarding sole source contracts until the Administration conducts a full audit of and submits to Congress a report on the business development program, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Imposes a moratorium on most SBA 8(a) sole-source contract awards until the Small Business Administration completes an audit of the program and reports the results to Congress, while allowing a national-security waiver.
Who Benefits and How
Competing firms outside the sole-source channel could face less competition from temporarily paused 8(a) sole-source awards.
Who Bears the Burden and How
8(a) firms that rely on sole-source contracts could lose opportunities, and SBA plus agency acquisition officials would have to manage the moratorium and waiver process.
Key Provisions
- Stops SBA from awarding most 8(a) sole-source contracts until an ordered audit is complete and reported to Congress.
- Allows agencies to seek waivers when sole-source awards are imperative for national security.
- Requires justification and review steps for any waiver request.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Imposes a moratorium on most SBA 8(a) sole-source contract awards until the Small Business Administration completes an audit of the program and reports the results to Congress, while allowing a national-security waiver.
Key Policy Areas
Government Operations, Small Business, Procurement
Primary Purpose
Imposes a moratorium on most SBA 8(a) sole-source contract awards until the Small Business Administration completes an audit of the program and reports the results to Congress, while allowing a national-security waiver.
Policy Domains
Main Provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Businesses competing for federal work outside the paused sole-source 8(a) channel
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- 8(a) firms relying on sole-source awards
- Small Business Administration and agency acquisition officials administering the moratorium
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
8(a) firms that rely on sole-source federal contracts
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology