In a letter to Chairman Sam Graves of the House Small Business Committee, PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway lauded the committee for a number of small business contracting bills that the were ready for mark up on Wednesday, but expressed strong concern about other small business proposals.
“We commend the committee members and others for their leadership on the important, complex issues surrounding small business federal contracting,” PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway said. “We’re particularly pleased to see legislation that would protect small businesses from improper insourcing activities, ensure that no small business is deemed ineligible for small business programs because of SBA’s improper approach to calculating industry category size standards, and elevate the role of small business advocates in the contracting process.”
PSC supports provisions in several of the bills, but also raised questions about provisions in two bills.
H.R. 3850, Government Efficiency Through (“GET”) Small Business Contracting Act, proposes raising current small business prime contracting or subcontracting goals.
PSC suggests that Congress direct SBA, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Government Accountability Office to complete a comprehensive analysis to get a clear picture of total small business participation in the federal marketplace, including an analysis of small business participation at multiple tiers of subcontracting, before adjusting goals.
H.R. 4081, Contractor Opportunity Protection Act of 2012, outlines contract bundling related provisions that would result in an increase in an unwarranted number of new and existing solicitations being classified as “bundled contracts” and will require agencies to take a number of new and burdensome steps before affected solicitations can be released for bid.
PSC believes that the extensive administrative work required before aggregating contract requirements, would cause agencies to avoid certain contracting approaches, including strategic sourcing, that might otherwise result in significant cost savings to taxpayers. PSC wants Congress to seek ways to encourage agency compliance with the existing statutes before adopting broad new requirements that eliminate agencies’ ability to make strategic decisions about their acquisitions.
To see a copy of the letter, click here.
