Senators Propose Contracting Overhaul Leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee have proposed legislation aimed at increasing contract opportunities for small companies. Among other provisions, the Small Business Contracting Revitalization Act, S. 2989, would allow set-asides on GSA schedules and all other multiple award contracts. It would require some contracts on all multiple award contracts to be set aside for small businesses. Sponsors are Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-LA, and the committee’s ranking Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine. The bill would require contractors to recertify their small business status annually in the government’s Online Representations and Certifications (ORCA) database. “The committee has heard from a number of small businesses about large businesses parading as small businesses,” Sen. Landrieu said in a statement. “It is imperative that small business contracts go to small businesses. Small businesses may be losing billions of dollars in opportunities because of size standard loopholes.” Bundling. The bill aims to rein in contract bundling by requiring an agency’s chief acquisition officer or senior procurement executive to determine that each bundled contract was justified by cost savings or other benefits to the government. Landrieu said, “The proliferation of bundled contracts coupled with the decimation of contracting professionals within the government threatens to kill small businesses’ ability to compete for federal contracts.” The bill would establish a government policy that decisions on contract consolidation “are made with a view to providing small business concerns with appropriate opportunities to participate as prime contractors and subcontractors.” Contracting officers would be permitted to set aside large contracts for teams or joint ventures of small firms. SBA would create a Center for Small Business Teaming to promote such partnerships among small businesses. Subcontracting. The bill would add a new contract clause aimed at ending bait-and-switch subcontracting. Prime contractors would have to notify contracting officers whenever they were three months late in paying a subcontractor. The failure to pay promptly would be a factor in evaluating the prime’s past performance. Accountability. As part of their annual job evaluations, procurement executives, program managers and OSDBU directors would be judged on their success in meeting small business goals.