Small and Disadvantaged Business Enhancement Act of 2016
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4326, the Small and Disadvantaged Business Enhancement Act of 2016. Over the years, Congress has sought to ensure that small businesses have fair opportunities to compete for Federal contracting opportunities.
There are various provisions that require agencies to set aside or reserve contracts for performance by small businesses so long as they can perform at a fair and reasonable price.
These tools have provided small businesses with opportunities that may have otherwise been closed to them. They have also diversified the government's available suppliers and increased competition, thereby strengthening our country's industrial base.
However, last year, the Committees on Small Business and Veterans' Affairs held a hearing in which senior procurement officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs alleged that the Department was circumventing contracting regulations. Rather than using a contracting vehicle, contracting personnel used purchase cards to buy goods and services such as pharmaceuticals and prosthetics.
If true, these uses of purchase cards by the VA directly violated contracting regulations. Many of these purchases were of such value, that they should have been procured using either the small business reserve or set-asides. Additionally, as a result of their use, veterans were put at risk, as the goods purchased using these cards came without the warranties and protections provided under a contract.
The Small and Disadvantaged Business Enhancement Act of 2016, introduced by Ms. Adams and Mr. Hardy, seeks to ensure that the fraud alleged at the VA does not happen there or at any other agency. The bill will require the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization to review agency purchases made using government purchase cards to ensure compliance with the contracting mechanisms set forth in the Small Business Act.
Additionally, the bill provides OSDBU the ability to ensure that all small businesses have access to their services. We cannot allow agencies to bypass the protections afforded to small businesses.
I, therefore, ask my fellow Members to support this bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In closing, last year, we saw the government achieve record high percentages of dollars awarded to small business. Unfortunately, these numbers have been called into question due to allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse at the VA.
Ultimately, we do not know the total value of small business contracts at the VA, but estimates suggest that small businesses lost out between $2.8 billion and $3.7 billion of contracts as a result of personnel using their purchase cards. If this is true, it is a failure not just of the VA, but of the procurement system more broadly.
Time and time again, we are presented with similar allegations in which opportunities were improperly diverted away from those that they were intended to reach. Every time this happens, a deserving small business loses out on revenue that could help create jobs in local communities. The truth is that we need more oversight, and H.R. 4326 will provide it.
Before I yield back, I want to thank Ms. Adams for her efforts and the efforts of all of the members of the committee to work in a bipartisan manner to help small businesses gain access to the Federal marketplace.
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank Chairman Chabot for his leadership on these matters, as well as other legislation that has passed out of the committee. I am happy to be working with him again to ensure that small businesses get the help they need to grow and continue to create jobs for our communities.
I also would like to add a thank you note to the staff on the majority, Emily Murphy, and on the minority, Eminence Griffin.
I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source