James M. Talent: “I will take a few minutes to discuss a provision in the bill about which I think there was strong bipartisan agreement…”

“I will take a few minutes to discuss a provision in the bill about which I think there was strong bipartisan agreement, because it will lift a significant burden off of minority contractors around the country who wish to do business with the Government. Now, as Senators know, the program under which you get certified as a minority contractor in the Federal Government is called the 8(a) Program. State and local governments have similar certifications for contracting as a minority contractor with those governments. This presents a serious problem for minority small businesses seeking to do business and to take advantage of goals or set-aside programs because they are, after all, small businesses. They have to get recertified today, having gotten recertified under the Federal Government, under State government, and recertified under local government. It is a time-consuming and expensive process. The provisions in the bill which reauthorize several of the Small Business Administration programs also contain a provision about which we had unanimity on both sides of the aisle which provides that once a business is certified as an 8(a) contract on the Federal level, it does not have to go through recertification on the State and local levels in order to do business in programs which are federally funded.”