NFIB

Bush Plan to Help Small Businesses Win Government Contracts
10/30/2002

At a time when federal contact bundling has reached a record high, the Bush administration today announced a plan to help small businesses win government contracts.

Contract bundling occurs when the federal government combines small procurement contracts into one massive contract. This practice effectively shuts out small businesses by offering such huge contracts that virtually no small company could take them on.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bush's plan will use a more stringent definition of contract bundling; require agencies with contracts worth $2 to $7 million to come up with alternatives to bundling and provide written justification if bundling is then pursued; and punish larger government suppliers that do not use small businesses as subcontractors.