Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 226) to amend the Small Business Act to include best in class designations in the annual report on small business goals prepared by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 226

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Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 226, the Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act of 2019.

Let me begin by welcoming back Ranking Member Chabot to this new Congress. I have been privileged to serve on the Small Business Committee for two decades and appreciate the relationship the ranking member and I have cultivated. I look forward to working with him on this bill and others as we remain steadfast in our efforts to ensure small businesses have the resources to thrive now and in the future.

Our committee has long acknowledged small businesses' critical role in the $500 billion a year Federal marketplace. When small firms are awarded Federal contracts, the result is a win-win.

Category management is believed by some to be the best strategy to get agencies the lowest price, but my committee has heard otherwise, and the data backs this up. Small contractors on the multiple award schedule consistently provide lower prices to agencies than those offered through category management.

Despite this, agencies have increased the use of category management, which not just increases costs to the Federal Government but also limits contracts to small vendors. In our committee hearings last year, we heard that more and more contracts are being consolidated and put out of the reach of small businesses as a result of category management.

This bill is a commonsense first step to address the need of small vendors, particularly minority-, women-, and veteran-owned small businesses, to remain competitors in the Federal marketplace. By requiring that contracting activity under this new regime of category management be reported in the annual goaling report from agencies to Congress, today's bill protects the industrial base by creating a mechanism for much-needed accountability.

H.R. 226 gives us the ability to analyze the data so that we can truly understand the role category management is playing in the marketplace and make changes accordingly.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to offer this bill to provide accountability to the category management regime.

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, let me just respond to the gentleman's comment regarding the shutdown. The fact of the matter is that the President campaigned and told the American people that he will build a wall and that it will be paid for by the Government of Mexico, and that is not what he is telling us now.

Besides, this is the President's shutdown, and he was very proud when he made that comment to Speaker Pelosi and the minority leader, Chuck Schumer.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of this important legislation to provide much-needed oversight of small business participation in the streamlined acquisition strategy known as category management.

H.R. 226 requires that contracting activity under this new regime be reported in the annual goaling report from agencies to Congress. This data would allow us to better understand how small firms fare under this new system and make adjustments if needed to guarantee an equitable playing field.

This bill protects the small business industrial base by giving a mechanism for much-needed accountability. It is supported by the National Small Business Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Electrical Contractors Association, which is the voice of the $171 billion electrical construction industry.

I thank the ranking member for his support of H.R. 226, and I remain committed to ensuring small firms are competitive within the Federal marketplace.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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