PSC Supports Small Business Contracting Reforms

Arlington, Va., March 6, 2012—The Professional Services Council today voiced support for a number of small business contracting bills that the House Small Business Committee will mark up tomorrow and expressed strong reservations 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,” said PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway. “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’s position on each of the seven bills, some of which will be marked up tomorrow, was conveyed to committee members and bill sponsors in a letter today. While the letter expresses support for provisions in several of the bills, PSC also raised concerns about provisions in two bills.

  • Government Efficiency Through (“GET”) Small Business Contracting Act (H.R. 3850) 
    • Concern: PSC believes Congress should not raise the small business prime contracting or subcontracting goals until it has accurate data about total small business participation in the federal marketplace at both the prime and subcontract levels. 
    • Recommendation: Congress should direct SBA, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Government Accountability Office, to undertake a comprehensive analysis of total small business participation in the federal marketplace, including an analysis of small business participation at multiple tiers of subcontracting. Only after there is a clear picture of small business contracting should Congress reassess whether raising the current goals is necessary. 
  • Contractor Opportunity Protection Act of 2012 (H.R. 4081) 
    • Concern: PSC believes that the definitions in this bill related to contract bundling will result in a substantial and 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. By requiring agencies to take additional extensive administrative actions before aggregating contract requirements, this bill would likely result in agencies avoiding certain contracting approaches, including strategic sourcing, that might otherwise result in significant cost savings to taxpayers. 
    • Recommendation: Congress should 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. 
PSC’s letter is available here. 

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About PSC: PSC has been the voice of the government professional and technical services industry for 40 years. PSC’s nearly 350 member companies represent small, medium, and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks and @StanSoloway.