AGC Urges Senate to Consider Small Business Contracting Reforms

On August 14, AGC urged members of the Senate Armed Services and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees to include small business contracting reforms as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2013. In its letter, AGC specifically highlighted two such reforms: (1) counting small business participation at lower tiers towards small business procurement goals; and (2) addressing the definition of a “bundled contract” to include contracts for construction services, which the House included in its version of NDAA passed earlier this year. Small business contracting reforms are germane to and should be included in NDAA. The NDAA provides essential funding authorization and policy for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). DOD accounts for approximately 70 percent of federal procurement spending per year. Counting small businesses at lower tiers towards the small business procurement goals would allow DOD to understand the full extent of small business procurement participation and, in turn, address procurement areas where small businesses are underrepresented. Additionally, the inclusion of the term “construction services” as part of the definition of “bundled contract” would force DOD to simply justify its decision to not provide smaller contract awards. AGC will continue to strongly advocate for these small business contracting reforms on Capitol Hill. For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.