OMB Promises to Enforce Bundling Policy A top official of the Office of Management and Budget has pledged “more aggressive steps” to improve small business access to the federal market and combat unjustified contract bundling. In a letter to Senate Small Business Committee Chair Olympia Snowe (R-ME), OMB’s deputy director for management, Clay Johnson, said the administration will create a scorecard to hold agencies accountable for meeting small business procurement goals and for complying with President Bush’s policy of limiting bundling. He said OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy will designate a senior official as the point person for small business issues, including bundling. The Senate version of the SBA Reauthorization bill, S. 3778, would broaden the definition of bundling to include any combination of two or more contracts. Current law defines a bundled contract as one that combines contracts in a way that makes them unsuitable for a small business. The bill is awaiting floor action. Johnson also pledged to: *Make a priority of proposing new rules governing size status “to guard against misrepresentation, miscoding, or manipulation of the system by large businesses.” *Explore ways to increase the number of SBA procurement center representatives. Those officials are supposed to promote set-asides and monitor bundling, but there are only a few dozen of them. The Senate bill would require SBA to hire more. *Consider adding the president’s Initiative Against Contract Bundling as a major new component of the President’s Management Agenda. Agencies are graded on their performance in areas on that agenda.