[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCING THE ``SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL SAFEGUARD ACT''

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                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 26, 2003

  Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the lifeblood of our 
economy and generate nearly half of our nation's GDP, yet the federal 
government is shutting small businesses out of the federal contracting 
process by bundling small contracts together into large megacontracts.
  In my State of Hawai`i for example, the federal government has 
created large megacontracts for military housing projects. This allows 
huge corporations to swoop in and win the contracts, even though 
Hawai'i's small businesses could do the work. Bundling has put these 
projects, and many other government contracts, out of the reach of 
small businesses and forces them to become subcontractors. I have heard 
from countless small business owners who said subcontracting for a 
large prime contractor is detrimental to their financial health and 
unfairly forces them to abide by the large corporations' work rules.
  Today I introduce a companion bill to S. 633. This bill will 
strengthen the definition of a bundled contract and prevent federal 
agencies from circumventing statutory safeguards intended to prevent 
contract bundling.
  This is a fair and temperate solution, and I ask for my colleagues' 
support.

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