| Small business owners across the country have begun to voice their concerns that the General Services Administration (GSA) is about to propose policies which would allow billions of dollars in small business contracts to be diverted to large firms. Under the guise of “improving efficiency,” the GSA has announced that it is beginning its review for an update of the GSA Acquisition Regulation (GSAR), or the regulatory part of the GSA’s Acquisition Manual.
There are a number of areas being reviewed in the GSAR that address the interests of small and disadvantaged businesses and minority, women, and veteran-owned firms. The GSA is not specific about how it plans to “streamline” the regulations that pertain to these entities. Because government personnel and industry have been asked to submit suggestions, many small business owners fear that regulations that currently protect their participation in the procurement process will be eliminated or altered to create loopholes that will exclude them.
Although seven Federal investigations have uncovered fraud and abuse in small business contracting, none of the areas that the GSA is proposing to change address the significant problems that allow this to happen.
The full text of GSA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is at www.acqnet.gov/GSAM/GSAR_ANPR_2006_NO1_FR.pdf. | 