Save Taxpayers Dollars by Ensuring Full and Open Competition to Government Contracts.

Government contracting should not exclude small businesses in the bidding process. The President supports the following proposals to improve the access of small businesses to government contracts:

• Ensure that government contracts are open to all small businesses that can supply the government's needs. Contracting should be accomplished through full and open competitive procedures. Therefore, the President has instructed the Director of the OMB to review contracting practices at agencies with significant procurement activities to determine whether their contracting practices reflect a strong commitment to full and open competition. OMB will also consult small businesses on this issue. OMB will report the results of the review and consultation to the President within 180 days, along with any recommendations for administrative action and proposed legislation.
• Avoid unnecessary contract bundling. Small businesses bring innovation and lower costs to the government. When contracts are bundled together, small businesses are at a disadvantage if they are not capable of supplying all the contracts. Accordingly, the President has instructed the Director of the OMB to prepare a federal government strategy for unbundling contracts wherever practicable.
• Streamline the appeals process for small businesses that contract with the federal government. Small businesses that work with the government should not have to face a costly, complicated and burdensome appeals process when they are in a dispute with the government over a contract. Currently, there are eight different executive branch civilian boards of contract appeals (BCAs) – all with different rules of procedure. In order to ease the administrative burden on small businesses, this legislative proposal would consolidate these eight BCAs into one board. The proposal would also require the consolidated BCA to review its rules of procedure to ensure processes remain simple, expeditious, and inexpensive.

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