Industry Groups Fight Defense Procurement Amendments Two contractor groups are fighting proposed amendments to the 2006 Defense Authorization bill that they say would hurt small businesses. The Coalition for Government Procurement said it opposes an amendment that would require contracting officers to seek offers from at least two small businesses on every order through GSA schedules. Senate Small Business Committee Chair Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is sponsoring the provision. The Information Technology Association of America urged the Senate to defeat an amendment that would require prime contractors on time and materials contracts to pass through subcontractors’ prices without increasing them to cover the prime’s expenses and risks. The amendment’s sponsor is Sen. Carl Levin (MI), ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. ITAA President Harris Miller said, “If this amendment goes forward, we’re looking at a potential disaster for small and mid-size businesses in the federal marketplace.” He said prime contractors will not use subcontractors if they cannot mark up prices. “Time and materials contracts are used when the nature of the work makes the outcome difficult or impossible to assign a fixed price,” Miller said in a statement. “These contracts are freighted with risk — risk that can be played out over a number of years.” The Snowe amendment would unnecessarily complicate GSA schedule purchases without benefiting most small firms, according to the Coalition for Government Procurement’s position paper. “Adopting the Snowe amendment hurts more small firms than it helps,” the Coalition declared. “It picks winners and losers in the small business community, actually doing more harm to ‘the small of the small’ that aren’t big enough to hold federal contracts themselves. Those small businesses that do compete, win without having to have special status. The schedules program is the fairest procurement method available to firms of all sizes.” Set-asides are not permitted on GSA schedules, but the agency says small firms won 37% of the dollars awarded under the schedules in fiscal 2004. The Senate temporarily shelved the Defense Authorization bill July 26. Debate will resume after Sept. 6, when Congress returns from its August recess.