Senate deal will level small-business contract preferences

HUBZone companies would not get priority over 8(a) companies and service-disabled veteran business owners

Senate leaders have agreed to include a provision in the next defense authorization bill to do away with the current debate over which categories of small businesses should be given priority in federal contracting.

The amendment, introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), would remove the special preference given to small businesses in historically underutilized business zones (HUBZones), putting those firms on a par with companies owned by service-disabled veterans and those in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program.

“All small businesses should be given an equal opportunity to succeed,” said Landrieu, chairwoman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

The Senate is currently considering the fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act ( S. 1390 ). The House passed its version in June.

Landrieu said her amendment is in response to a May ruling by the Government Accountability Office that HUBZone companies had to be considered before other categories of business when conducting a set-aside procurement. She said the ruling has caused contractors to pull back business from 8(a) and service-disabled veterans programs.

In its decision, GAO said the Army made a mistake when it didn’t consider whether at least two HUBZone businesses would bid on an information technology contract. Mission Critical Solutions, a HUBZone company, protested the award after the Army awarded a one-year, $3.45 million sole-source contract to Copper River Information Technology, a company owned by Alaska Natives.

SBA and administration officials also object to GAO’s decision. They say it conflicts with SBA's long-standing regulations and its view that 8(a) companies and those owned by service-disabled veterans and HUBZone companies are all equals. On July 10, OMB told agencies to disregard GAO’s decision.

“If agencies were to follow the GAO decisions, the federal government’s efforts to procure goods and services from 8(a) small businesses and from [service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses] through the other statutory programs may be negatively impacted,” Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag wrote on July 10.

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Bill would put more eyes on purchase cards

Federal employees who use government purchase cards could have more eyes watching them.

Under the Government Credit Card Abuse Prevention Act (S. 789), the IGs would have to regularly report to the Office of Management and Budget about violations and punishments, as well as agency trends that might lead to improper behaviors. They would also suggest other ways of aggregating an agency’s spending, according to the bill.

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DHS' blended workforce worries senators

Members of a Senate committee are concerned that the Homeland Security Department continues to rely on contractors, instead of growing the expertise it needs internally, according to a new report.

The Senate Appropriations Committee said in a report accompanying a spending bill the panel approved June 19 that its members were concerned that contractors are performing work that is more appropriate for federal employees or contractors are doing work that comes close to inherently governmental functions.

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GSA: Congress should broaden state, local access to GSA contracts

As the Senate considers legislation that would open several General Services Administration contracts to state and local agencies, a top GSA official said today that the measure should include more opportunities.

The Local Preparedness Acquisition Act, which the Senate might vote on this week, would open GSA’s Schedule 84 for security and law enforcement products and services to state and local governments. The House passed a similar bill in December.

Currently, those agencies can only use the schedule contracts through cooperative purchasing agreements or when they’re recovering from a disaster.

Jim Williams, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said state and local agencies should have had access long ago to GSA’s contracts and that the bill should extend beyond Schedule 84 and even beyond state and local governments.


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Senators blast rule for woman-owned businesses

Six senators have criticized a rule recently proposed by the Small Business Administration’s that would limit set-aside contracts for woman-owned small businesses to four industries.

In a letter sent Feb. 1, the senators said SBA fashioned the rule by selectively reading a recent study that measured if and where women business owners are underrepresented in federal contracting.

The rule would determine that woman-owned businesses are underrepresented in national security, engraving and kitchen cabinet manufacturing and as motor vehicle dealers.

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House passes $516B omnibus spending bill

The House passed a $516 billion omnibus spending bill Dec. 17, days before a continuing resolution expires, but the legislation’s future is uncertain.

The Senate is closely divided on the fiscal 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act and will need to resolve senators’ differences before the bill is sent to the White House.

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Senate bill would increase IG oversight

Congress may tighten controls on agency inspectors general but offer them more authority under new legislation introduced in the Senate.

The Inspector General Reform Act (S. 2324), which Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced Nov. 8, would guarantee that administrations appoint qualified people to be IGs, that IGs remain independent of agency pressure and that they make their reports accessible to the public.

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Grassley: Sun controversy a sign of deeper contracting problems

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and the General Services Administration are sparring again over the Sun Microsystems contracting controversy, a week after the company let its schedules contract expire.

Grassley said he wants to know if the Sun case reflects deeper problems with how the government negotiates and manages contracts, leading to contracts that benefit vendors at the expense of taxpayer dollars.

GSA said he's using "false innuendo to impugn the motives of GSA management."

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Retiree bills face uncertain future

Two bills that would soften the expected blow from a wave of federal worker retirements face an uncertain future in Congress.

The bills, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), would make it easier for agencies to rehire retired federal employees to stave off anticipated staffing problems. The chairmen of committees reviewing the measures have not decided if they will consider them in committee.

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Senate amendment aims to restrict competitive sourcing

The Defense Authorization bill passed by the Senate Oct. 1 includes provisions that would restrict competitions between private contractors and government employees for federal work, a practice the Bush administration advocates as a way to save money.

An amendment Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) added to the Fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act seeks to level the playing field for civilian defense employees in public/private competition, known as competitive sourcing under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76.

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Sun pulls out of GSA schedules contract

Sun Microsystems, mired for months in a battle with the General Services Administration and the agency's inspector general over pricing policies and audit practices, announced Friday it would cancel its Multiple Award Schedule contract as of Oct. 12.

“We took this step reluctantly,” Sun officials said in a statement.

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Grassley asks GSA to cancel Sun contract

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has asked the General Services Administration Administrator Lurita Doan to cancel its controversial Multiple Award Contract with Sun Microsystems.

During the last several months, Grassley has been pushing GSA and Sun to address his concerns over the vendor's pricing strategy. The senator believes the vendor is not giving government customers its lowest pricing as required by its GSA Schedule contract. According to GSA's inspector general, Sun has overcharged the government by more than $25 million.

But despite the pressure, the company has not provided information for an audit the senator requested, even after requests by a GSA contract officer and Inspector General Brian Miller, according to the senator.

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Senator wants answers about GSA, Sun deal

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wants to know how much money, if any, the government has saved or lost under its contract with Sun Microsystems, and he has asked General Services Administration Inspector General Brian Miller to check it out now.

A hotline complaint alleged that Sun overcharged the government in 2004 for products and services on GSA’ multiple-award schedules, Miller told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee March 28. As a result, the company’s contract with GSA was extended but not renewed while the IG looked into the matter. Investigations have ensued to determine if GSA Administrator Lurita Doan intervened in negotiations to keep the company on GSA’s schedules.

“If the government is getting a fair deal, then I want to know it,” Grassley wrote in a June 5 letter to Miller. “If not, then Congress needs to understand the full scope of the problem.”

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Kerry queries DOD on missed vet set-aside goal

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) wants to know why the Defense Department, of all agencies, is falling short when it comes to contracting with small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates May 15 asking for a clear statement on DOD’s commitment to meeting the governmentwide goal of setting aside 3 percent of contracting dollars for such businesses.

DOD has yet to meet that goal, which was written into law in 1999. In 2005, for example, the department set aside a little less than 0.5 percent, Kerry wrote.

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Groups push Senate for more open government

Senate leaders received a letter today from 100 groups asking them to pass the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National (OPEN) Government Act and restore confidence in government.

“The public’s confidence in the executive branch has reached a dramatic low point,” the groups said in the letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

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NASA broke procurement promise to GAO, senator says

NASA needs to account for misleading the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on a pledge to review contracting irregularities after having a bid protest dismissed in 2005, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a letter to the space agency.

In the letter sent April 5, Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said NASA made specific commitments to GAO as part of its response to a bid protest. The commitments led GAO to dismiss the protest. However, a review by NASA’s inspector general found that agency did not follow through on its promises, Grassley said.

“NASA needs to ensure that basic procurement principles are followed,” Grassley said.

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Senate committee takes a seat against partisanship

Only an Independent senator as chief could put Democrats and Republicans shoulder to shoulder.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) told panel members in a letter that they will no longer sit on opposite sides of the chamber. Instead, Republicans and Democrats will cozy up next to one another in a spirit of nonpartisanship.

“In the last election, the voters said they were sick of the partisanship that produces gridlock,” Lieberman and Ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said in a joint statement March 9.

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Want more votes? Improve your Web site, study shows

Having a good Web site could bring in votes, according to a study on congressional members’ Web sites.

The study uncovered a relationship between the quality of a member’s official dot-gov site and the number of votes he or she received in the 2006 midterm election. It could have been the margin of victory in close races.

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Contracting continues to catch Congress' eye

A new bill from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) attacks bad government contracting practices and proposes sweeping reforms.

The legislation (S. 606) aims to stop what Dorgan called “outrageous rip-offs of the American taxpayer,” including huge no-bid contracts and little accountability.

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Senate supports penalties for illegal hiring

Companies found hiring illegal workers would be blocked from getting government contracts, according to a provision in a minimum wage bill approved by the Senate Jan. 25.

An amendment with that provision in the Senate’s version of the Fair Minimum Wage Act (H.R. 2) passed by 94-0.

Under the amendment, contractors with illegal hiring practices would be banned from getting a new government contract for up to 10 years, depending on whether they currently had a contract with the government.

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