Political Quotes

“Though I agree with Mr. Mfume that we need to find ways to incentivize and encourage agencies to contract with small businesses, very much so, I do not believe this is the correct approach. This amendment, unfortunately, does not actually incentivize more contract with small businesses in a meaningful way. There are many underlying factors affecting the small business goaling numbers that must be addressed first before we raising the goals. We need more effective solutions to increasing contracting with small businesses. First, the amendment does not address the concern of small businesses leaving the Federal marketplace at a very rapid rate. In fact, the amendment only incentivizes more dollars go to small businesses, which can easily be achieved by awarding huge contracts to a handful of mature small businesses, which can arguably be viewed as flouting the purpose of the goals themselves. It does nothing to incentivize agencies to contract with a greater number of small businesses, which is critical to maintaining a healthy and competitive industrial base. Second, the Small Business Committee has taken several actions over the years to understand and address the problems of agencies overreporting their small business goals. This issue is still a work in progress. Some of these dollars purported to have gone to small businesses may have gone to large businesses, perhaps legally, likely legally.…”