15 U.S.C. § 643 — Fair charge for use of Government-owned

Page 973 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 644 Editorial Notes PRIOR PROVISIONS Prior similar provisions were contained in section 219 of act July 30, 1953, ch. 282, title II, 67 Stat. 239, which was previously classified to section 648 of this title. The provisions of section 213 of act July 30, 1953, formerly classified to this section, were transferred to section 2[8] of Pub. L. 85–536, and are classified to section 637(b)(6), (7) of this title. See Codification note set out under section 631 of this title. § 643. Fair charge for use of Government-owned property To the fullest extent the Administration deems practicable, it shall make a fair charge for the use of Government-owned property and make and let contracts on a basis that will re- sult in a recovery of the direct costs incurred by the Administration. (Pub. L. 85–536, § 2[14], July 18, 1958, 72 Stat. 395.) Editorial Notes PRIOR PROVISIONS Prior similar provisions were contained in section 220 of act July 30, 1953, ch. 282, title II, 67 Stat. 240, which was previously classified to section 649 of this title. The provisions of section 214 of act July 30, 1953, formerly classified to this section, were transferred to section 2[15] of Pub. L. 85–536, and are classified to section 644 of this title. See Codification note set out under section 631 of this title. § 644. Awards or contracts (a) Small business procurements (1) In general For purposes of this chapter, small business concerns shall receive any award or contract if such award or contract is, in the determina- tion of the Administrator and the contracting agency, in the interest of— (A) maintaining or mobilizing the full pro- ductive capacity of the United States; (B) war or national defense programs; or (C) assuring that a fair proportion of the total purchases and contracts for goods and services of the Government in each industry category (as defined under paragraph (2)) are awarded to small business concerns. (2) Industry category defined (A) In general In this subsection, the term ‘‘industry cat- egory’’ means a discrete group of similar goods and services, as determined by the Ad- ministrator in accordance with the North American Industry Classification System codes used to establish small business size standards, except that the Administrator shall limit an industry category to a greater extent than provided under the North Amer- ican Industry Classification System codes if the Administrator receives evidence indi- cating that further segmentation of the in- dustry category is warranted— (i) due to special capital equipment needs; (ii) due to special labor requirements; (iii) due to special geographic require- ments, except as provided in subparagraph (B); (iv) due to unique Federal buying pat- terns or requirements; or (v) to recognize a new industry. (B) Exception for geographic requirements The Administrator may not further seg- ment an industry category based on geo- graphic requirements unless— (i) the Government typically designates the geographic area where work for con- tracts for goods or services is to be per- formed; (ii) Government purchases comprise the major portion of the entire domestic mar- ket for such goods or services; and (iii) it is unreasonable to expect com- petition from business concerns located outside of the general geographic area due to the fixed location of facilities, high mo- bilization costs, or similar economic fac- tors. (3) Determinations with respect to awards or contracts Determinations made pursuant to paragraph (1) may be made for individual awards or con- tracts, any part of an award or contract or task order, or for classes of awards or con- tracts or task orders. (4) Increasing prime contracting opportunities for small business concerns (A) Description of covered proposed procure- ments The requirements of this paragraph shall apply to a proposed procurement that in- cludes in its statement of work goods or services currently being supplied or per- formed by a small business concern and, as determined by the Administrator— (i) is in a quantity or of an estimated dollar value which makes the participa- tion of a small business concern as a prime contractor unlikely; (ii) in the case of a proposed procure- ment for construction, seeks to bundle or consolidate discrete construction projects; or (iii) is a solicitation that involves an un- necessary or unjustified bundling of con- tract requirements. (B) Notice to procurement center representa- tives With respect to proposed procurements de- scribed in subparagraph (A), at least 30 days before issuing a solicitation and concurrent with other processing steps required before issuing the solicitation, the contracting agency shall provide a copy of the proposed procurement to the procurement center rep- resentative of the contracting agency (as de- scribed in subsection (l)) along with a state- ment explaining— (i) why the proposed procurement cannot be divided into reasonably small lots (not less than economic production runs) to permit offers on quantities less than the total requirement; (ii) why delivery schedules cannot be es- tablished on a realistic basis that will en- courage the participation of small business