Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Chair as well. I wish to speak to the amendment offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania. I think it is a critical amendment for the contracting process. As the Chair well understands, because I know the Chair has called many meetings on contracts and processes, and over the years we have attempted to rectify and mitigate many of the problems that have arisen during the course of a contract to make sure there is access for small business within the Federal agencies, I have heard, as I know the Chair has as well, from countless small businesses who feel abused by large prime contractors. During the procurement process when preparing for government bids, oftentimes large prime contractors do not fulfill their obligations to use small businesses as outlined in the subcontracting plan. They identify the small businesses in their own plan that they submit to the government, they win the contract, and then they turn around and don't use the small businesses they have identified in their bid they have submitted to the Federal Government. So I wish to congratulate the Senator from Pennsylvania for identifying an important way to make sure small businesses are not left out of this process, because they are required--once they have been identified in an open, large prime contractor's plan, they are required to use that small business.…”