Press Release
April 21, 2010
Contact: Aaron Hunter 202-225-2040
Rep. Susan Davis Authors Successful Amendment to Defense Bill to Increase Competition and Help Small Businesses
Davis Amendment Added to Bill Targeting Waste in Defense Spending
Washington – Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) voted to reduce waste in the defense acquisition process with her vote for the IMPROVE Acquisition Act (H.R 5013) in the House Armed Services Committee. The committee also approved an amendment offered by Davis to increase competition in the awarding of contracts, which would help small businesses.
“This bill builds on our efforts to reduce waste in how our nation spends defense dollars,” said Davis. “With our nation’s current economic state and increasing budget deficits, it is especially important that we spend every taxpayer dollar wisely.”
The bill would require the Department of Defense (DOD) to begin to comprehensively manage the defense acquisition workforce and would reform DOD’s financial management. The IMPROVE Acquisition Act focuses on the DOD contracts not addressed by last year’s Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act, including food services and software procurement. The reforms in H.R. 5013 are expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars.
The Davis Amendment encourages DOD to assess the impact of contract bundling as part of a broader assessment required in H.R. 5013. Frequently, contracts are bundled together for ease and convenience which benefits larger companies while pushing small businesses out of the market.
“At a time when many businesses are struggling, the U.S. government needs to help bring more businesses into the DOD procurement system,” said Davis. “I know from talking to small business owners in my district that smaller firms are hurt when only a select number of companies are able to bid for DOD projects.”
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