Pentagon must report on small-business contracting compliance
H.R. 7076 — To require the Secretary of Defense to report on certain contracts and awards to small business concerns, and for other purposes. · Filed by Hillary Scholten (D-MI) · Introduced Jan 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Department of Defense to study whether it is properly awarding small contracts (below a certain dollar threshold) to small businesses as required by law, and report back to Congress within 180 days with findings and recommendations. The study will examine five years of contracting data to identify gaps, reasons for non-compliance, and patterns where contracts that should have gone to small businesses went elsewhere instead.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandated study and report on DoD compliance with small-business set-aside requirements. It is a transparency and accountability measure, not a substantive change to contracting law or a carve-out.
What the text implies
- Study may reveal systemic non-compliance with small-business set-asides, potentially triggering legislative or regulatory action to strengthen enforcement.
- Report findings could expose patterns of contract steering to larger vendors, creating political pressure for DoD policy changes.
- Recommendations in the report may lead to future bills tightening small-business contracting rules or increasing oversight.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates transparency and accountability for federal small-business contracting, which is a public policy goal embedded in statute. Small business owners and taxpayers benefit from visibility into whether DoD is complying with existing law; no restrictions on citizen rights or protections are imposed.
Named in the bill
Department of Defense, Office of Small Business Programs, Small Business Administration, House Committee on Armed Services, Senate Committee on Armed Services, House Committee on Small Business, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Where it stands
- Jan 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 14, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,770 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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