The 110th Congress will bring Democrats back to the majority in both houses in January. New chairman of key Senate committees for the contractor community include:

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Joseph Lieberman, CT. Re-elected as an independent, Lieberman rejoined the Democratic caucus and was allowed to retain his seniority. The committee has jurisdiction over procurement. Lieberman and the outgoing Republican chair, Susan Collins of Maine, have worked together to lead the committee in a bipartisan fashion.

Armed Services: Carl Levin, MI.

Commerce, Science and Transport.: Daniel Inouye, HI.

Sen. John Kerry will head the Small Business Committee. See p. 4.

SBA has denied a request for a waiver of the nonmanufacturer rule for personal computers. The agency said it has discovered that some small business manufacturers are providing PCs to the government.

Denying the waiver means recipients of set-aside contracts must provide the products of small manufacturers on those contracts.

An interagency working group has prepared a new guide for contracting officers to evaluate contractors’ past performance.

GSA published a notice asking for comment from industry. It says the guide is designed to help agencies know their role in addressing and using contractor performance information. It addresses the types of performance information that exist, resources for finding the data, and standards to employ, and discusses best use of performance data throughout the acquisition process, from the pre-award and planning phase through source selection and into contract evaluation.

Submit comments identified by OCAO-2006-N01 by Jan. 16 through www.regulations.gov.