General powers

The Administration shall have power to adopt, alter, and use a seal, which shall be judicially noticed. The Administrator is authorized, subject to the civil service and classification laws, to select, employ, appoint, and fix the compensation of such officers, employees, attorneys, and agents as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter; to define their authority and duties; and to pay the costs of qualification of certain of them as notaries public. The Administration, with the consent of any board, commission, independent establishment, or executive department of the Government, may avail itself on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis of the use of information, services, facilities (including any field service thereof), officers, and employees thereof, in carrying out the provisions of this chapter. In the performance of, and with respect to, the functions, powers, and duties vested in him by this chapter the Administrator may— impose, retain, and use only those fees which are specifically authorized by law or which are in effect on September 30, 1994, and in the amounts and at the rates in effect on such date, except that the Administrator may, subject to approval in appropriations Acts, impose, retain, and utilize, additional fees— To such extent as he finds necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter, the Administrator is authorized to procure the temporary (not in excess of one year) or intermittent services of experts or consultants or organizations thereof, including stenographic reporting services, by contract or appointment, and in such cases such services shall be without regard to the civil-service and classification laws and, except in the case of stenographic reporting services by organizations, without regard to section 6101 of title 41. Any individual so employed may be compensated at a rate not in excess of the daily equivalent of the highest rate payable under section 5332 of title 5, including travel time, and, while such individual is away from his or her home or regular place of business, he or she may be allowed travel expenses (including per diem in lieu of subsistence) as authorized by section 5703 of title 5. Section 3324(a) and (b) of title 31 shall not apply to prepayments of rentals made by the Administration on safety deposit boxes used by the Administration for the safeguarding of instruments held as security for loans or for the safeguarding of other documents. The Administration may undertake or suspend for a period of not to exceed 5 years any small business concern’s obligation under this subsection only if— Prior to the undertaking or suspension by the Administration of any small business concern’s obligation under this subsection, the Administration, consistent with the purposes sought to be achieved herein, shall require the small business concern to agree in writing to repay to it the aggregate amount of the payments which were required under the loan during the period for which such obligation was undertaken or suspended, either— The guaranteed portion of any loan made pursuant to this chapter may be sold by the lender, and by any subsequent holder, consistent with regulations on such sales as the Administration shall establish, subject to the following limitations: Upon the adoption of final rules and regulations, the Administration shall— There is established in the Administration an Office of Hearings and Appeals— to impartially decide matters relating to program decisions of the Administrator— Except as provided in clause (ii), the Office of Hearings and Appeals shall hear appeals of agency actions under or pursuant to this chapter, the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), and title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and shall hear such other matters as the Administrator may determine appropriate. The Office of Hearings and Appeals shall not adjudicate disputes that require a hearing on the record, except disputes pertaining to the small business programs described in this chapter. The head of the Office of Hearings and Appeals shall be the Chief Hearing Officer appointed under section 633(b)(1) of this title, who shall be responsible to the Administrator. The Chief Hearing Officer shall— The Chief Hearing Officer may assign a matter for mediation or other means of alternative dispute resolution. The Office of Hearings and Appeals shall appoint Hearing Officers to carry out the duties described in paragraph (1)(A)(i). A Hearing Officer appointed under this paragraph— Notwithstanding section 556(b) of title 5— An individual serving as a Judge in the Office of Hearings and Appeals (as that position and office are designated in section 134.101 of title 13, Code of Federal Regulations) on the effective date of this subsection shall be considered as qualified to be, and redesignated as, a Hearing Officer. Not later than 2 days after the date on which a final determination that a business concern does not meet the requirements of the status such concern claims to hold is made, such concern or the Administrator, as applicable, shall update the status of such concern in the System for Award Management (or any successor system). If such concern fails to update the status of such concern as described in subparagraph (A), not later than 2 days after such failure the Administrator shall make such update. A concern required to make an update described under subparagraph (A) shall notify a contracting officer for each contract with respect to which such concern has an offer or bid pending of the determination made under subparagraph (A), if the concern finds, in good faith, that such determination affects the eligibility of the concern to perform such a contract. In this subsection, the term “Hearing Officer” means an individual appointed or redesignated under this subsection who is an attorney licensed by a State, commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia.