experts or consultants or organizations thereof, including stenographic reporting services, by contract or appointment, and in such cases such service 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 5 of Title 41. Any individual so employed may be compensated at a rate not in excess of $50 per diem, and, while such individual is away from his home or regular place of business, he may be allowed transportation and not to exceed $15 per diem in lieu of subsistence and other expenses. Pub. L. 85-536, § 2[5], July 18, 1958, 72 Stat. 385. (a) Loans to small-business concerns; restric tions and limitations The Administration is empowered to make loans to enable small-business concerns to finance plant construction, conversion, or expansion, including the acquisition of land; or to finance the acquisition of equipment, facilities, machinery, supplies, or materials; or to supply such concerns with working capital to be used in the manufacture of articles, equipment, supplies, or materials for war, defense, or civilian production or as may be necessary to insure a well-balanced national economy; and such loans may be made or effected either directly or in cooperation with banks or other lending institutions through agreements to participate on an immediate or deferred basis. The foregoing powers shall be subject, however, to the following restrictions and limitations: (1) No financial assistance shall be extended pursuant to this subsection unless the financial assistance applied for is not otherwise available on reasonable terms. (2) No immediate participation may be purchased unless it is shown that a deferred participation is not available; and no loan may be made unless it is shown that a participation is not available. (3) In agreements to participate in loans on a deferred basis under this subsection, such participation by the Administration shall not be in excess of 90 per centum of the balance of the loan outstanding at the time of disbursement. (4) Except as provided in paragraph (5), (A) no loan under this subsection shall be made if the total amount outstanding and committed (by participation or otherwise) to the borrower from the revolving fund established by this chapter would exceed $350,000; (B) the rate of interest for the Administration's share of any such loan shall be no more than 512 per centum per annum; and (C) no such loan, including renewals or exten sions thereof, may be made for a period or periods exceeding ten years except that a loan made for the purpose of constructing facilities may have a maturity of ten years plus such additional period as is estimated may be required to complete such construction. (5) In the case of any loan made under this subsection to a corporation formed and capitalized by a group of small-business concerns with resources provided by them for the purpose of obtaining for the use of such concerns raw materials, equipment, inventories, supplies or the benefits of research and development, or for establishing facilities for such purpose, (A) the limitation of $350,000 prescribed in paragraph (4) shall not apply, but the limit of such loan shall be $250,000 multiplied by the number of separate small businesses which formed and capitalized such corporation; (B) the rate of interest for the Administration's share of such loan shall be no less than 3 nor more than 5 per centum per annum; and (C) such loan, including renewals and extensions thereof, may not be made for a period or periods exceeding ten years except that if such loan is made for the purpose of constructing facilities it may have a maturity of twenty years plus such additional time as is required to complete such construction. (6) The Administrator is authorized to consult with representatives of small-business concerns with a view to encouraging the formation by such concerns of the corporation referred to in paragraph (5). No act or omission to act, if requested by the Administrator pursuant to this paragraph, and if found and approved by the Administration as contributing to the needs of small business, shall be construed to be within the prohibitions of the anti-trust laws or the Federal Trade Commission Act of the United States. A copy of the statement of any such finding and approval intended to be within the coverage of this section, and any modification or withdrawal thereof, shall be furnished to the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission when made, and it shall be published in the Federal Register. The authority granted in this paragraph shall be exercised only (A) by the Administrator, (B) upon the condition that the Administrator consult with the Attorney General and with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, and (C) upon the condition that the Administrator obtain the approval of the Attorney General before exercising such authority. Upon withdrawal of any request or finding hereunder or upon withdrawal by the Attorney General of his approval granted under the preceding sentence, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to any subsequent act or omission to act by reason of such finding or request. (7) All loans made under this subsection shall be of such sound value or so secured as reasonably to assure repayment. (b) Disaster loans; term; interest The Administration also is empowered (1) to make such loans (either directly or in cooperation with banks or other lending institutions through agreements to participate on an immediate or deferred basis) as the Administration may determine to be necessary or appropriate because of floods or other catastrophes; and (2) to make such loans (either directly or in cooperation with banks or other lending institutions through agreements to participate on an immediate or deferred basis) as the Administration may determine to be necessary or appropriate to any small-business concern located in an area affected by a drought or excessive rainfall, if the Administration determines that the small-business concern has suffered a substantial economic injury as a result of such drought or excessive rainfall and the President has determined under sections 1855-1855g of Title 42, that such drought or excessive rainfall is a major disaster, or the Secretary of Agriculture has found under sections 1148a1 to 1148a-3 of Title 12, that such drought or excessive rainfall constitutes a production or economic disaster in such area. No loan under this subsection, including renewals and extensions thereof, may be made for a period or periods exceeding twenty years. The interest rate on the Administration's share of any loan made under this subsection shall not exceed 3 per centum per annum. In agreements to participate in loans on a deferred basis under this subsection, such participation by the Administration shall not be in excess of 90 per centum of the balance of the loan outstanding at the time of disbursement. (c) Extension or renewal of loans The Administration may further extend the maturity of or renew any loan made pursuant to this section, or any loan transferred to the Administration pursuant to Reorganization Plan Numbered 2 of 1954, or Reorganization Plan Numbered 1 of 1957, for additional periods not to exceed ten years beyond the period stated therein, if such extension or renewal will aid in the orderly liquidation of such loan. (d) Grants for studies, research, and counsel- The Administration also is empowered to make grants to any State government, or any agency thereof, State chartered development credit or finance corporations, land-grant colleges and universities, and colleges and schools of business, engineering, com merce, or agriculture for studies, research, and counseling concerning the managing, financing, and operation of small-business enterprises and technical and statistical information necessary thereto in order to carry out the purposes of section 637 (b) (1) of this title by coordinating such information with existing information facilities within the State and by making such information available to State and local agencies. Only one such grant shall be made within any one State in any one year, and no such grant shall exceed an aggregate amount of $40,000. Pub. L. 85-536, § 2[7], July 18, 1958, 72 Stat. 387, amended Pub. L. 85-699, Title VI, § 602(c), Aug. 21, 1958, 72 Stat. 698, as amended Sept. 22, 1959, Pub. L. 86-367, § 2, 73 Stat. 647. Section 637. Additional powers. (a) Procurement contracts; sub-contracts to small-business concerns It shall be the duty of the Administration and it is empowered, whenever it determines such action is necessary (1) to enter into contracts with the United States Government and any department, agency, or officer thereof having procurement powers obligating the Administration to furnish articles, equipment, supplies, or materials to the Government. In any case in which the Administration certifies to any officer of the Government having procurement powers that the Administration is competent to perform any specific Government procurement contract to be let by any such officer, such officer shall be authorized in his discretion to let such procurement contract to the Administration upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the Administration and the procurement officer; and (2) to arrange for the performance of such contracts by negotiating or otherwise letting subcontracts to small-business concerns or others for the manufacture, supply, or assembly of such articles, equipment, supplies, or materials, or parts thereof, or servicing or processing in connection therewith, or such management services as may be necessary to enable the Administration to perform such contracts. (b) Procurement and property disposal powers; It shall also be the duty of the Administration and it is empowered, whenever it determines such action is necessary— (1) to provide technical and managerial aids to smallbusiness concerns, by advising and counseling on matters in connection with Government procurement and property disposal and on policies, principles, and practices of good manage ment, including but not limited to cost accounting, methods of financing, business insurance, accident control, wage incentives, and methods engineering, by cooperating and advising with voluntary business, professional, educational, and other nonprofit organizations, associations, and institutions and with other Federal and State agencies, by maintaining a clearinghouse for information concerning the managing, financing, and operation of small-business enterprises, by disseminating such information, and by such other activities as are deemed appropriate by the Administration; (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 deter |