Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Senate highlights decline in number of small businesses getting federal contracts

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Recently, a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship called for increased small business participation in federal contracts during a hearing on the SBA’s contracting programs.  Senator Ben Cardin based his concern on a recent report showing that the number of small businesses with federal contracts was at a 10-year low.

The report found that federal agencies had awarded contracts to 32 percent fewer small businesses in 2018 versus 2009.  In contrast, the number of large contractors receiving awards fell only 4% during the same time frame.

The Senator’s take on this report was that, “while contracts are getting bigger and bigger, we are creating an insular club where fewer and fewer businesses successfully compete for government contracts.”  He added, “[t]hat’s contrary to what these set-asides and programs are all about, which is encouraging new small businesses that can bring innovation and job growth to our economy and help our nation.”

Sen. Cardin also noted that, while federal agencies are meeting their goal of spending 23 percent of contracts on small businesses, “the data shows that we have a shrinking base of contractors rather than an expanding base of contractors.”

In other words, fewer small businesses are receiving the benefit of those set asides.

Continue reading at:  SmallGovCon

Software companies push Senate to weaken lowest price contracting rule

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Lawmakers are once again looking at ways to peel back the use of lowest price technically acceptable, or LPTA, contracting decisions to enable federal agencies to spend a little more for better products and services.

As part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, LPTA requires agencies to choose the lowest priced option that meets the requirements set forth in a given solicitation. Abiding by the letter of the law has led to poor contracting decisions for the sake of saving some money.

“LPTA contracting is a useful source selection method for acquisitions with simple, well-defined requirements when cost is the sole objective differentiating factor,” BSA | The Software Alliance Vice President Craig Albright wrote in a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “However, when it comes to more complex acquisitions involving multiple technical variable or functions … LPTA’s priority of price over value leads to acquisition outcomes that actually prevent the government from getting the most for its money.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/policy/2018/07/software-companies-push-senate-weaken-lowest-price-contracting-rule/149878/

Senator calls on agencies to streamline programs for entrepreneurs

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One lawmaker wants agencies to reexamine their efforts to support entrepreneurs after a watchdog group determined more could be done to streamline many often inefficient and redundant programs to assist small businesses.

On Nov. 17th, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., sent letters to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Small Business Administration leader Linda McMahon requesting analyses of their agency’s entrepreneur assistance initiatives and information on how they measure the effectiveness of the programs.

The Government Accountability Office reported in 2012 that each of the 52 entrepreneur support programs at Commerce, SBA and other agencies overlapped with at least one other program in the type of assistance they offer or the type of entrepreneur they serve. The fragmented system was often difficult for business owners to navigate, and GAO advised agencies to collaborate to streamline the process and also create a system to monitor the performance of individual programs.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/management/2017/11/senator-calls-agencies-streamline-programs-entrepreneurs/142682

Contractors see some goodies in big Defense bill

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LPTA addressed in 2017 NDAAThe grab-bag $610 billion defense policy bill now at the halfway point in its journey through Congress has the contracting community upbeat about some procurement and small business reforms while wary of debate about the extent to which defense contractors will be subject to President Obama’s Fair Pay Safe Workplaces executive order.

A version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act passed the House May 19 by a 277-147 vote, while a slightly different version cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee the same day 23-3.

“Building on last year’s initial set of improvements to the acquisition system, the FY17 NDAA makes foundational reforms intended to help get better technology into the hands of the warfighter faster and more efficiently,” said a summary by House Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. “It does so by requiring weapon systems to be designed with open architectures that can easily be upgraded as technology and threats evolve. It also provides flexible funding to experiment with new technology, while simplifying the process and expanding the avenues of competition for suppliers of all sizes.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/05/contractors-see-some-goodies-big-defense-bill/128541

Senators press White House to clamp down on ‘bridge contracts’

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Two Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee wrote to the White House procurement policy chief seeking clarity on Obama administration plans to strengthen oversight of so-called “bridge contracts’’ — temporary extensions to sole-source contractors that auditors warn may stifle competition.

Seal_of_the_United_States_SenateRanking member Tom Carper, D-Del., and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., sent a letter dated Oct. 20 to Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Anne Rung, requesting a briefing following the release this week of a Government Accountability Office report. That report found that such departments as Defense, Health and Human Services and Justice use bridge contracts with “limited or no insight” into the frequency of their use for extended periods, in part because of a lack of definition of such contracts.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/10/senators-press-white-house-clamp-down-bridge-contracts/123081

Skeptical Senate chairman asks SBA for list of every contractor it counted as a small business

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A Senate chairman has asked the Small Business Administration to provide him with a list of every company that was counted toward the federal government’s small business contracting goal in 2014.

Last year, the SBA reported the government had met its goal of awarding small businesses 23 percent of all federal contracting dollars for the first time in eight years.

Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

“We’re expecting even better results when we release the 2014 scorecard in the coming weeks,” SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said May 8, during a White House event honoring National Small Business Week award winners.

But a report by Public Citizen (see http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/2015/05/12/advocacy-group-accuses-sba-of-misapplying-law-on-small-business-set-asides) questioned the accuracy of the SBA’s procurement report for 2013. It found that contracts awarded to giant federal contractors such as Lockheed Martin were counted as small businesses in the SBA’s numbers. This is just the latest example of flaws in the SBA’s contracting data though the years.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2015/05/skeptical-senate-chairman-asks-sba-for-list-of.html

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