Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6382, the ``Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act,'' a bill which seeks to improve participation in federal contracting by small businesses.

The ``Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act,'' requires that the Small Business Administration report to Congress on the total amount of government-wide spending under the Category Management approach, and more importantly, the number of small businesses awarded contracts under Category Management and the dollar amount of such contracts.

This information will allow Congress to determine whether Category Management is negatively impacting the participation of small businesses--including, minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned companies--in the federal marketplace.

While I appreciate that the rationale behind Category Management is to save taxpayer dollars by reducing contract redundancies and costs and shrink administrative burdens, I share the concerns of many that the expanded use of Category Management, as proposed by the Trump Administration, will result in less opportunities for small businesses to secure federal contracts.

Research published in a Federal News Radio article has shown that past contract consolidation efforts by the federal government have decreased the amount of small prime contractors obtaining federal work. As such, we must exercise vigilance to guard against the diminution of small business participation in the federal marketplace under Category Management.

As a longtime advocate for small businesses, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor on this legislation, and I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina, Ms. Adams, for bringing the bill forward.

With that, I urge my House colleagues to support small businesses by voting in favor of this legislation.

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