Political Quotes

“They said it was less risky and more manageable to do business with a few selected vendors, instead of encouraging new and innovative qualified companies to enter the Federal marketplace. However, this lack of competition resulted in widespread waste and abuse in every Federal agency. The Competition in Contracting Act's establishment of the full and open competition standard has saved the Federal Government billions of dollars. Now, the same old arguments which were used to limit competition before we passed that legislation have resurfaced with H.R. 1670. I can understand why agency bureaucrats would want additional powers to impose limits on competition. It is certainly much easier and less time consuming to do business with only a few selected well known big companies. Agency officials get to know the people in these companies. Yes, the old boy network does have its advantages; but do we really want our country to go backwards as we move into the more enlightened information age? Over the past 5 years much of the major innovative and technological advances that our country has made have come from small businesses. Just look at the remarkable rise of companies like Microsoft and Apple computers. Just a few years ago they were new, small companies; today they successfully compete with computer giants like IBM. Over the next 10 years, 85 percent of all new jobs in the United States will come from small businesses.”