Susan Collins: “The amendment my colleague from Oregon and I are offering tonight requires the use of full and open competition for the…”

“The amendment my colleague from Oregon and I are offering tonight requires the use of full and open competition for the award of contracts under this bill to support our military or related to the reconstruction of Iraq. Competitive bidding ensures the taxpayer gets the very best value for his investment. It also enhances public confidence that contracts are awarded in a manner that is fair and transparent, a process that allows all qualified bidders to submit bids for the contract. This principle of full and open competition is enshrined in the Competition and Contracting Act, which is current law. Under that law, contracts must generally be bid under full or open competition unless one of seven exemptions is invoked. Unfortunately, however, some of the contracts that have been awarded to date, both to support our military in Iraq and to begin reconstruction efforts, have not been awarded using full and open competition. The contracting process has been curtailed. We want to make sure the general rule is competitive bidding, and, if there are cases where there are legitimate reasons for curtailing competition--say, for reasons of national security--then we believe there should be a process in place that requires a justification for curtailing competition and disclosure of that fact.”