Federal agencies must now publicly track new small business contracting
H.R. 818 — SPUR Act · Filed by Pete Stauber (R-MN) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 28, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill amends the Small Business Act to require federal agencies' procurement scorecards to track how many new small businesses (those receiving their first federal prime contract) are awarded contracts each year, broken down by business type (veteran-owned, HUBZone, minority-owned, women-owned) and industry code. It also defines 'new small business entrant' and 'scorecard' for clarity. The bill creates no new spending.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a reporting requirement—it mandates that federal agencies track and disclose new small business entrant contract awards in their public scorecards. This is a transparency and accountability tool, not a spending or regulatory change.
What the text implies
- Scorecard visibility may create competitive pressure on federal agencies to increase new-entrant contracting, potentially shifting procurement patterns without explicit mandate.
- Disaggregation by industry code and business type (veteran, HUBZone, minority, women-owned) may reveal disparities in federal support across sectors and demographics, prompting policy debate.
- The definition of 'new small business entrant' (first federal prime contract ever) is narrow and excludes businesses with prior state/local contracts, potentially undercounting experienced small firms entering federal market.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill increases transparency and accountability in federal procurement by requiring agencies to publicly report how many new small businesses they award contracts to, enabling citizens and advocates to monitor whether federal spending actually supports new market entrants and underrepresented groups. There is no cost to citizens; the reporting requirement is administrative and creates no new spending.
Named in the bill
Small Business Administration, Federal agencies, Service-disabled veterans, HUBZone small business concerns, Socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, Women-owned small businesses, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Jan 28, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 28, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Small Business and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Small Business”
- Feb 24, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection”
- Feb 24, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Williams (TX) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
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 (1,940 characters) on Jun 8, 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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