Senate Panel Chairman Leading Fight for Procurement Goals

Federal agencies are falling short on the government’s 23% procurement goal for small businesses--an issue that could spark debate on whether it should be lowered when the Small Business Administration comes up for reauthorization next month.

Anticipating that brawl, Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, has thrown a preemptive punch. In a letter earlier this month to SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez, Bond stressed his commitment to the goal, mandated by Congress in the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997.

Bond has been a vocal critic of contract bundling--the consolidation of federal contracts that makes it harder for small fry to bid. He argues that the practice is partly responsible for poor procurement showings this fiscal year, which ends in October.

The SBA works with federal agencies that purchase goods and services to ensure that 23% of contract dollars go to small enterprises, but the agencies appeared to be falling short of that mark. SBA officials recently approached Bond’s office for guidance on the potential shortcoming, prompting an aggressive response in defense of small business.

“At the very least, these agencies should seek to provide the same level of small-business participation that they sought in the previous fiscal year,” Bond wrote, instructing the SBA to pressure federal agencies that this year set goals below last year’s numbers.

He also called on Alvarez to use the poor showing as political ammunition “to highlight the harm being perpetrated by contract bundling and other procurement ‘reforms’ that have hindered small-business participation.”

In a response to Bond’s letter, Alvarez stressed that anything below the 23% goal is unacceptable to her. Each agency sets its own goals, which in the aggregate should come to 23%. Because they are falling short this year, the SBA has begun assigning goals to the agencies instead. Among those assigned a higher goal is the Department of Energy.

It is unclear how far below the 23% goal the agencies are this year, but an SBA spokesman said the agency plans to reach the required mark by October.

“Each agency head is receiving a letter and phone call from me, urging vigorous implementation of the goals. . . . SBA intends to work aggressively to find ways to overcome the effects of contract bundling,” Alvarez wrote in her reply to Bond last week.

A spokesman for Bond said the senator “is pleased with the SBA’s willingness to take this on. It’s not a confrontational standoff.” But the dialogue underscores how the upcoming reauthorization of the agency by Congress could become political open-season for both proponents and opponents of small-business programs.

Bond suggested that the SBA explore toughening bundling statutes to further protect small business, arguing that “the upcoming reauthorization process provides an opportunity to write stronger tools into law.”