15 U.S.C Regulation

15 U.S.Code 637(b)(7)
(b)PROCUREMENT AND PROPERTY DISPOSAL POWERS; DETERMINATION OF SMALLBUSINESS CONCERNSIt shall also be the duty of the Administration and it is
empowered, whenever it determines such action is necessary—
(1)
(A)to provide—
(i)technical, managerial, and informational aids to small business concerns—
(I)
by advising and counseling on matters in connection with Government
procurement and policies, principles, and practices of good management;
(II)by cooperating and advising with—
(aa)
voluntary business, professional, educational, and other
nonprofit organizations, associations, and institutions (except that
the Administration shall take such actions as it determines necessary to
ensure that such cooperation does not constitute or imply an endorsement
by the Administration of the organization or its products or services, and
shall ensure that it receives appropriate recognition in all printed materials);
and
(bb)
other Federal and State agencies;
(III)
by maintaining a clearinghouse for information on managing, financing, and
operating small business enterprises; and
(IV)
by disseminating such information, including through recognition events, and
by other activities that the Administration determines to be appropriate; and
(ii)through cooperation with a profit-making concern (referred to in this
paragraph as a “cosponsor”), training, information, and education to small
business concerns, except that the Administration shall—
(I)take such actions as it determines to be appropriate to ensure that—
(aa)
the Administration receives appropriate recognition and publicity;
(bb)
the cooperation does not constitute or imply an endorsement by
the Administration of any product or service of the cosponsor;
(cc)
unnecessary promotion of the products or services of the cosponsor is
avoided; and
(dd)
utilization of any one cosponsor in a marketing area is minimized; and

(II)develop an agreement, executed on behalf of the Administration by an
employee of the Administration in Washington, the District of Columbia, that
provides, at a minimum, that—
(aa)
any printed material to announce the cosponsorship or to be distributed at
the cosponsored activity, shall be approved in advance by
the Administration;
(bb)
the terms and conditions of the cooperation shall be specified;
(cc)
only minimal charges may be imposed on any small business concern to
cover the direct costs of providing the assistance;
(dd)
the Administration may provide to the cosponsorship mailing labels, but not
lists of names and addresses of small business concerns compiled by the
Administration;
(ee)
all printed materials containing the names of both the Administration and
the cosponsor shall include a prominent disclaimer that the cooperation does
not constitute or imply an endorsement by the Administration of any product
or service of the cosponsor; and
(ff)
the Administration shall ensure that it receives appropriate recognition in all
cosponsorship printed materials.
(B)
To establish, conduct, and publicize, and to recruit, select, and train
volunteers for (and to enter into contracts, grants, or cooperative
agreements therefor), volunteer programs, including a Service Corps of
Retired Executives (SCORE) and an Active Corps of Executive (ACE) for the
purposes of subparagraph (A). To facilitate the implementation of such
volunteer programs the Administration shall maintain at its headquarters
and pay the salaries, benefits, and expenses of a volunteer and professional
staff to manage and oversee the program. Any such payments made
pursuant to this subparagraph shall be effective only to such extent or in
such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriation Acts.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, SCORE may solicit cash and inkind contributions from the private sector to be used to carry out its
functions under this chapter, and may use payments made by
the Administration pursuant to this subparagraph for such solicitation and
the management of the contributions received.
(C)To allow any individual or group of persons participating with it in
furtherance of the purposes of subparagraphs (A) and (B) to use
the Administration’s office facilities and related material and services as

the Administration deems appropriate, including clerical and stenographic
services:
(i)
such volunteers, while carrying out activities under this paragraph shall be
deemed Federal employees for the purposes of the Federal tort claims
provisions in title 28; and for the purposes of subchapter I of chapter 81 of
title 5 (relative to compensation to Federal employees for work injuries) shall
be deemed civil employees of the United States within the meaning of the
term “employee” as defined in section 8101 of title 5, and the provisions of
that subchapter shall apply except that in computing compensation benefits
for disability or death, the monthly pay of a volunteer shall be deemed that
received under the entrance salary for a grade GS–11 employee;
(ii)
the Administrator is authorized to reimburse such volunteers for all
necessary out-of-pocket expenses incident to their provision of services
under this chapter, or in connection with attendance at meetings sponsored
by the Administration, or for the cost of malpractice insurance, as the
Administrator shall determine, in accordance with regulations which he or
she shall prescribe, and, while they are carrying out such activities away
from their homes or regular places of business, for travel expenses
(including per diem in lieu of subsistence) as authorized by section 5703 of
title 5 for individuals serving without pay; and
(iii)
such volunteers shall in no way provide services to a client of
such Administration with a delinquent loan outstanding, except upon a
specific request signed by such client for assistance in connection with such
matter.
(D)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no payment for supportive
services or reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses made
to persons serving pursuant to this paragraph shall be subject to any tax or
charge or be treated as wages or compensation for the purposes of
unemployment, disability, retirement, public assistance, or similar benefit
payments, or minimum wage laws.
(E)
In carrying out its functions under subparagraph (A), to make grants
(including contracts and cooperative agreements) to any public or
private institution of higher education for the establishment and operation of
a small business institute, which shall be used to provide business
counseling and assistance to small business concerns through the activities
of students enrolled at the institution, which students shall be entitled to
receive educational credits for their activities.
(F)

Notwithstanding any other provision of law and pursuant to regulations
which the Administrator shall prescribe, counsel may be employed and
counsel fees, court costs, bail, and other expenses incidental to the defense
of volunteers may be paid in judicial or administrative proceedings arising
directly out of the performance of activities pursuant to this paragraph, to
which volunteers have been made parties.
(G)
In carrying out its functions under this chapter and to carry out the activities
authorized by title IV of the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 [15
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.], the Administration is authorized to accept, in the name
of the Administration, and employ or dispose of in furtherance of the
purposes of this chapter, any money or property, real, personal, or mixed,
tangible, or intangible, received by gift, devise, bequest, or otherwise; and,
further, to accept gratuitous services and facilities.
(2)
to make a complete inventory of all productive facilities of small-business
concerns or to arrange for such inventory to be made by any other
governmental agency which has the facilities. In making any such inventory,
the appropriate agencies in the several States may be requested to furnish
an inventory of the productive facilities of small-business concerns in each
respective State if such an inventory is available or in prospect;
(3)
to coordinate and to ascertain the means by which the productive capacity of
small-business concerns can be most effectively utilized;
(4)
to consult and cooperate with officers of the Government having
procurement or property disposal powers, in order to utilize the potential
productive capacity of plants operated by small-business concerns;
(5)
to obtain information as to methods and practices which Government prime
contractors utilize in letting subcontracts and to take action to encourage the
letting of subcontracts by prime contractors to small-business concerns at
prices and on conditions and terms which are fair and equitable;
(6)
to determine within any industry the concerns, firms, persons, corporations,
partnerships, cooperatives, or other business enterprises which are to be
designated “small-business concerns” for the purpose of effectuating the
provisions of this chapter. To carry out this purpose the Administrator, when
requested to do so, shall issue in response to each such request an
appropriate certificate certifying an individual concern as a “small-business
concern” in accordance with the criteria expressed in this chapter. Any such
certificate shall be subject to revocation when the concern covered thereby
ceases to be a “small-business concern”. Offices of the Government having
procurement or lending powers, or engaging in the disposal of Federal

property or allocating materials or supplies, or promulgating regulations
affecting the distribution of materials or supplies, shall accept as conclusive
the Administration’s determination as to which enterprises are to be
designated “small-business concerns”, as authorized and directed under this
paragraph;
(7)
(A)
To certify to Government procurement officers, and officers engaged in
the sale and disposal of Federal property, with respect to all elements of
responsibility, including, but not limited to, capability, competency,
capacity, credit, integrity, perseverance, and tenacity, of any small business
concern or group of such concerns to receive and perform a specific
Government contract. A Government procurement officer or an officer
engaged in the sale and disposal of Federal property may not, for any reason
specified in the preceding sentence preclude any small business concern or
group of such concerns from being awarded such contract without referring
the matter for a final disposition to the Administration.
(B)
If a Government procurement officer finds that an otherwise qualified small
business concern may be ineligible due to the provisions of section 35(a)