Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004

AMENDMENT NO. 1280

    Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Kennedy amendment. A-76 is a program that was implemented by the Government several years ago to try to make sure that contracts let in the public and the private sector are actually saving money. Are the taxpayers getting the best bang for the buck that was intended at the time the contracts were let?

    Folks in the public sector have never minded competing with the private sector for any type of public contract. The problem with A-76 is, when they go back and review those contracts that have been let, it seems they always go review the contracts that were awarded to the public sector and they never go to the contracts that were awarded to the private sector.

    If A-76 is going to be fairly applied to the public sector, it ought to be applied to the private sector. That is simply not the way A-76 has worked over the years.

    I complained about the previous administration on this issue, I complain to the current administration on this issue, and we have simply seen no change in the policy with respect to A-76.

    Competition is what makes our country go round and round in the business community. Nobody minds competing if they are in business for the right reason. And when it comes, in my case, to the instances where I have the most experience—in the public depots—we have never minded competing with the private sector for a contract when it comes to repair or improvement of our military weapons systems. But every time we get awarded a public contract, it seems that 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years out, all of a sudden we are seeing an A-76 that is submitted and the folks come in and review the contract that has been awarded to the public depot, while, on the other side of that coin, the dozens and dozens and dozens and billions of dollars in contracts that are awarded to the private sector are never subject to the A-76 review.

    Senator Kennedy's amendment goes a long way toward righting that wrong. I support that amendment. I support making competition open, making competition fair between the public sector and the private sector. And if the administration is not going to take the initiative to do that, and make sure that is the fact of the matter in contracts that are awarded to the public sector, then this is the type of action we have to take.

    I support the amendment.