Online Update: House Sets Vote on Contracting Bill The House Small Business Committee has scheduled an April 24 session to consider legislation aimed at expanding contract opportunities for small firms. The Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act, H.R. 1873, would raise the government’s goal for contracting with small firms to 30%, from the current 23%. It would expand the definition of a bundled contract, require agencies to justify bundling and establish a new appeal process for SBA to fight bundled contracts. The bill is sponsored by Iowa Democrat Bruce Braley, Small Business Committee Chair Nydia Velazquez of New York and the committee’s ranking Republican, Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot. Velazquez said the Democratic leadership has agreed to schedule a House vote on the bill during the week of May 7. Committee staff said the bill would define a bundled contract as any consolidation of two or more contracts above a certain dollar threshold. Current law says a contract is considered bundled only if part of the work was previously performed by a small business. The bill would include construction contracts and other new work in the definition of bundling, according to a staff summary. “Contract bundling has been ‘public enemy number one’ for small businesses that are trying to penetrate the federal marketplace,” Velazquez said at an April 19 hearing. The Bush administration opposes the bundling provisions. “While I share the committee’s concern about the impact of bundled contracts, I do not agree that the definition is the problem,” said Paul Hsu, SBA associate administrator for government contracting and business development. “The issue is enforcement, and the president, the Office of Procurement Policy and we, at the SBA, are all focused on addressing this issue.” Velazquez said SBA has contested only four bundled contracts over the past two years, and was not able to persuade the procuring agency to unbundle any of them. Hsu said SBA tries to resolve disputes over bundling through negotiations with agencies without a formal protest. “Many of our successes occur at this level,” he told the committee. According to the staff summary, the bill would permit set-asides on orders through GSA schedules. Some schedule orders are currently advertised only to small businesses, but there is no legal authority for a formal set-aside. The bill would provide bonus credits for contractors that achieve their small business subcontracting goals.