Proposed Database Would Target Poor Performers House Democrats are pushing legislation aimed at weeding out poor-performing and unethical contractors. “Right now, there is nothing stopping a fraudulent contractor from bouncing from federal agency to federal agency, fleecing U.S. taxpayers the whole way,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, said in a statement. ‘“Congress can and should do more to fortify the federal procurement system, and show the door to contractors lining their pockets at the expense of hardworking taxpayers.”  She and Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-NY, introduced legislation to create a central database of contractors that would provide information on past performance, inspector general and other audit reports, and contracts that were terminated for poor performance. It would incorporate the database of contractors that have been suspended or disbarred as well as information on agreements entered into by contractors to avoid suspension or disbarment. That information is now scattered among many databases. Contracting officers are only required to look at the suspension/disbarment list and the Defense Department’s Past Performance Information Retrieval System. Towns, chairman of the Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement, said, “I hear from my constituents, and from small and minority businesses nationwide, that they can’t get contracts with the government, only subcontracts from these enormous firms that get all the prime contracts. I am very concerned that when the government does not expect contractors to meet high standards, the innovative new companies are effectively frozen out.”