Roger Williams: “I support H.R. 4670, the Small Business Contracting Transparency Act, introduced by Congressman Stauber from the great…”

“I support H.R. 4670, the Small Business Contracting Transparency Act, introduced by Congressman Stauber from the great State of Minnesota. The U.S. Government is one of the largest customers in the world. They contract out purchases of things as simple as office supplies to complicated rockets that go into space. Each year, the government sets a contracting goal that they look to hit so that small businesses can help service the various needs of the Federal Government. To be considered a small business in contracting, there are certain verification procedures to ensure that a small business does, in fact, qualify. It would be problematic if larger corporations were posing as small businesses in order to compete for some of the small business set-aside contracts. For some of these small business categories, the businessowner simply gets to self-certify that they are who they say the business represents. For others, the Small Business Administration or third- party entities do a more rigorous certification process. Since there isn't a uniform process to verify the small businesses are who they claim to be, it calls into question the accuracy of the contracting data that we receive. The Small Business Contracting Transparency Act brings much-needed insight into these certification activities and whether the SBA is meeting its requirements. Mr.…”