Reps. Chu and Kelly Introduce Bill to Help Small Businesses Earn More Government Contracts

Washington, D.C. – Today, Reps. Judy Chu (CA-27) and Trent Kelly (MS-01) introduced the Transparency in Small Business Goaling Act. The bill will remove exclusions that allow for an over-inflation of small business participation in the federal marketplace. Reps. Chu and Kelly released the following statements:

“Last year alone, small businesses missed out on at least $16 billion in contracting dollars due primarily to the exclusion of overseas contracts from small business eligible contracting dollars. This is unnecessary and harmful,” said Rep. Chu. “Our small business owners are characterized by hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit that makes them more than qualified to offer innovative solutions to our needs at competitive prices. Allowing them to compete for more contracts will not only help improve the work of our federal agencies, but it would give us a more accurate depiction of our small business contracting goals and ultimately result in more profits that can go towards job creation. It’s time we lift this overseas restriction among others and bring more accurate reporting to our federal contracting goals.”

“Setting and meeting small business contracting goals is an important duty of the Small Business Administration, but inaccurate reporting to Congress on how these goals are met leads to missed opportunities for small businesses,” said Rep. Kelly. “Accurate reporting by the SBA is key to ensuring that small businesses have the opportunity to compete for contracts and subcontracts with the federal government. With this legislation, we are making sure that opportunities exist for all small businesses.”

The Transparency in Small Business Goaling Act would remove certain exclusions in the consideration of eligible small business contracting dollars and would provide a more accurate picture of small business participation. Ultimately, this would force federal agencies to increase contracting to small businesses in order to achieve their agency goals.