Gloria Larkin, a member of WIPP, Testified before Congress regarding the impact of ‘Bundling’ on small businesses.

House Advances Bill to Curb Contract ‘Bundling’ that Favors Large Companies

By Charles S. Clark March 30, 2015 Comment

Citing a shortage of accurate data on small business contracting, a House panel last week approved an umbrella bill (H.R. 1481) aimed at forcing agencies to curb practices seen as freezing out smaller bidders and requested a new Government Accountability Office study on small business goals.

“We know that when small businesses compete for federal work, it creates jobs, improves the quality of work, and saves taxpayers’ money,” said House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. “This bill is a commonsense approach to make sure that Washington is working with Main Street – not locking it out of the procurement process altogether.”

Combining six separate bills, the package would restrict “bundling” of services or goods previously provided under separate contracts to the detriment of small business and curb use of so-called reverse auctions, in which contractors bid electronically for contracts at progressively lower prices.

The bill would require the Small Business Administration, which announced last year that agencies for the first time met the goal of awarding 23 percent of contracts to small businesses, to factor in use of subcontractors in their performance. The committee’s analysis of contract data from fiscal 2011-2014 showed that the number of small business contracting actions fell by almost 60 percent and the average size of a contract action increased 230 percent. more