Contracting Provisions Out of War Spending Bill A House-Senate conference committee dropped provisions of the $124 billion supplemental defense spending bill that small business advocates warned could kill set-aside programs. Sections 5001 and 5002 of the bill were aimed at minimizing the use of sole-source and cost-reimbursement contracts. Section 5001 would have required agencies to minimize the use of contracts using “other than competitive procedures.” Leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee objected that the provision “has the potential to summarily invalidate all federal contracting set-aside programs and preferences for small business concerns.” In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Small Business Chairman John Kerry of Massachusetts and the ranking Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, urged that the contracting provisions be eliminated. However, similar language is included in the Accountability in Contracting Act, H.R. 1362, which was passed by the House March 15 under the sponsorship of Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat. It is awaiting consideration in the Senate. The Bush administration and an industry coalition, the Acquisition Reform Working Group, also opposed the provisions. President Bush vetoed the spending bill May 1 because it set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. Democratic leaders acknowledge they cannot muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, so the issue of funding for the war will be back before Congress later this spring.