Eight Small Business GovCon Bills to Watch in 2025

Between a spate of executive orders and the ongoing Revolutionary FAR Overhaul process, 2025 is shaping up to be the most impactful year in procurement policy in decades. With all eyes in the government contracting community on the White House and FAR regulators, it’s easy to overlook Congress, which has quietly been working on several bills that could significantly impact small business contractors—and some of these bills have already been approved by one of the two chambers.

With that in mind, let’s look at eight bills currently before Congress that small business contractors should keep an eye on this year, covering everything from women-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses to SBA’s annual goaling scorecard to the composition of the FAR Council itself.

H.R. 789: “Transparency and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act”

H.R. 789 would require the SBA to issue rules for disclosing information about federal contract solicitations for which small businesses were eligible and that were issued and cancelled.

When adopted, those rules would require that if an agency cancels such a solicitation, the agency must provide (1) a justification for the cancellation, (2) information about any plans to reissue the solicitation and any associated time frames, and (3) information about any plans to include the requirements of the solicitation in another contract or task order of the agency. Additionally, for solicitations that an agency does not intend to reissue, the SBA would be required to provide procedures for the agency to refer a small business that prepared a bid for such covered solicitation to the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for assistance in identifying similar contracting opportunities.

On March 5, the House Committee on Small Business unanimously advanced H.R. 789. The full House approved the bill by voice vote on June 3. As of the date of this article, the bill has moved to the Senate, where it is before the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

H.R. 818: “Small Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act (SPUR) Act”

H.R. 818 would require federal agencies to include, on the SBA’s annual small business scorecard, “the number of small businesses that receive a prime contract for the first time and are owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, qualified HUBZone small business concerns, small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, or small business concerns owned and controlled by women.”

This bill may sound unexciting, but to me, it’s an important step in recognizing that the government’s manner of tracking small business contracting success is out of whack. Year after year, the SBA awards the government “A” grades for exceeding the goal of awarding at least 23% of prime contracting dollars to small businesses, while sweeping under the rug the fact that the number of small businesses selling to the government has declined alarmingly: down more than 50% over the past 15 years.

Some readers will undoubtedly point out that there are many factors behind this sharp decline: increased use of GWACs, industry consolidation, strategic sourcing initiatives, and so on. I don’t argue with any of that, but I also think that the fact that SBA’s small business grades are based almost entirely on dollars hasn’t helped. If we want a broad small business base, the scorecard ought to emphasize factors beyond dollars—such as new market entrants, as called for by the SPUR Act.

I’ll get off my soapbox but suffice it to say I’m a fan of this bill. (Yes, while normal humans are fans of music and movies, I’m a fan of procurement legislation). On February 24, H.R. 818 passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 384-25. As of the date of this article, the bill has moved to the Senate, where it is before the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

H.R. 1816: “WOSB Accountability Act”

H.R. 1816 would prohibit the SBA from counting self-certified WOSBs when the SBA considers whether a contract has been awarded to a WOSB for purposes of the government’s five percent WOSB goal. Instead, the SBA could only count contracts awarded to certified WOSBs toward the goal.

You may be thinking, “wait a second—didn’t the SBA eliminate WOSB self-certification a few years ago?” Yes and no. Under current law, self-certified WOSBs cannot be awarded WOSB sole source or set-aside contracts.  However, when the SBA runs the numbers for goaling purposes, the SBA can (and does) count self-certified WOSBs. For example, if a company is awarded a small business set-aside contract and the company self-certifies as a WOSB, this award counts toward the WOSB goal.

The WOSB Accountability Act, buoyed by support from advocacy group Women Impacting  Public Policy, was advanced unanimously by the House Committee on Small Business in March. On June 3, the bill passed the House on a voice vote. As of the date of this article, the bill has moved to the Senate, where it is before the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

H.R. 2804: “Protecting Small Business Competitions Act”

The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul process is intended to “return the FAR to its statutory roots,” and the underlying executive order makes clear that  provisions in the current FAR that are not specifically mandated by statute—that is, in a bill passed into law by Congress—are strongly disfavored to remain in  the final revised version. (My article here goes into greater detail about what provisions will remain in the revised FAR and what provisions could be on the chopping block).

As I wrote in another article, one of the key tools supporting small businesses in federal contracting, the “rule of two” under FAR 19.502-2, is not specifically mandated by statute above the simplified acquisition threshold. (The baseline SAT under FAR 2.101 is currently set at $250,000, although a proposed rule would increase the threshold to $350,000 to account for inflation). Above the SAT, the rule of two is a discretionary creation of the FAR Council to implement the broader Congressional policy goal of ensuring that small businesses receive a fair proportion of federal prime contracting dollars.

This means, of course, that the rule of two above the SAT could be on the chopping block as part of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul process. In my opinion, as well as that of other small business advocates like my former colleagues at PilieroMazza PLLC, the elimination of the rule of two above the SAT could have devastating consequences for small businesses.

H.R. 2804, quite simply, would make the rule of two statutory at all dollar values—codifying in statute what the FAR has said for years. I’m not going to pretend to be neutral: I strongly support this bill and hope that the small business community will rally behind it. If eliminating the rule of two above the SAT could harm your business, contact your representative to make your voice heard.

As of the date of this article, H.R. 2804 was before the House Committee on Small Business.

H.R. 3195

This unnamed bill would allow a surviving child of a deceased service-disabled veteran to continue operating the veteran’s business as an SDVOSB for a limited period.

Under current law, if a married service-disabled veteran passes away and the veteran’s surviving spouse acquires the veteran’s ownership stake in the business, the spouse may continue to operate the company as an SDVOSB for a period that typically runs up to three years but can be as long as ten years, depending on certain factors. However, if the veteran is unmarried or if the spouse is not able to effectively run the business, there is no mechanism by which another relative of the veteran can step in and temporarily continue to operate the business as an SDVOSB.

H.R. 3195 would address that problem, at least in part, by allowing a surviving child who acquires the veteran’s ownership to continue to operate the business as an SDVOSB for up to three years. As with the provision for spouses, this bill would allow business continuity for SDVOSBs while the deceased veteran’s family located a qualified and capable service-disabled veteran to operate the business for the long term.

As of the date of this article, H.R. 3195 was before the House Committee on Small Business.

H.R. 3736: “Small Business Representation in Contracting Rulemaking Act”

If, like me, you have the habit of checking the latest FAR Open Case Report, you know that many of the rules before the FAR Council specifically address small business matters—and, of course, any change to the FAR can impact small business contractors.

H.R. 3736, the “Small Business Representation in Contracting Rulemaking Act” would add the SBA to the FAR Council. Currently, the FAR Council consists of “the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, the Administrator of General Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space,” none of which are necessarily experts in small business matters or tasked with advocating for the interests of small businesses.

As of the date of this article, H.R. 3736 was before both the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Committee on Small Business.

S. 991 & H.R. 3485

These unnamed companion bills would eliminate the so-called “bona fide place of business rule” for 8(a) construction contracts.

The bona fide place of business rule requires that, to be awarded an 8(a) construction contract, an 8(a) Program participant must have “a bona fide place of business within the applicable geographic location determined by SBA.” The requirement is implemented by SBA’s regulations but has its underpinning in statute: 15 U.S.C. 637(a)(11) states that “To the maximum extent practicable, construction [8(a) contracts] . . . shall be awarded within the county or State where the work is to be performed.”

In 2021, availing itself of the flexibility afforded by the language “to the maximum extent practicable,” the SBA imposed a moratorium on the enforcement of the bona fide place of business rule due to the “ongoing challenges of COVID-19.” The SBA extended the moratorium in 2023 and again in 2024. However, on June 17, 2025, the SBA announced that it would not issue another extension when the current moratorium expires on September 30.

As of the date of this article, S.991 was before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and H.R. 3485 was before the House Committee on Small Business.

A Few Final Words

There you have it: eight Congressional bills I think the small business community should be following this year. Keep in mind that this is my own curated list; these aren’t the only small business bills in front of our elected officials. And, of course, Congress continues in session and new bills impacting contractors are bound to be introduced as the year goes on.

I will keep my eyes peeled, and if you (that is, my loyal, wonderful and good-looking readers) enjoy this sort of legislative summary, I may post a follow-up article if additional bills are introduced that I think you may want to know about.

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Boring but important disclaimers: The information in this article is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.