Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act

The "Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act" aims to systematically dismantle federal government contracting preferences and goals tied to an individual's race, ethnicity, or sex. It achieves this by making extensive amendments to the Small Business Act, removing specific provisions that establish or support set-asides and programs for small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals and women. While eliminating these categories, the bill largely preserves existing preferences for qualified HUBZone small business concerns and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

Beyond the Small Business Act, the legislation also targets other federal statutes and programs. It repeals the Minority Business Development Act of 2021 and amends the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, among others, to remove similar demographic-based preferences. Furthermore, the bill reduces participation goals for certain small businesses in Department of Transportation financial assistance programs and eliminates reporting requirements related to women-owned and socially and economically disadvantaged businesses.

A central provision of the bill explicitly prohibits executive agencies from considering the race, ethnicity, or sex of individuals owning or managing businesses when granting contracts or awards. This prohibition extends to preventing agencies from requiring or encouraging contractors to consider these factors in their own subcontracting. To ensure compliance, the bill mandates that executive agencies undertake rulemaking within 180 days to remove all such references from their regulations and issue new guidance within 60 days to reflect these changes.