Small Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. STAUBER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of my bill, the Small Business Procurement and Utilization Reform Act of 2024, also known as the SPUR Act.

Madam Speaker, I also thank my friend and colleague from Washington (Ms. Perez) for her support on this important legislation.

Small businesses across the United States have a problem. Despite government agencies setting aside contract opportunities for small businesses, participation in Federal contracting has plummeted by 50 percent over just the past decade.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are the innovators, the job creators, and the driving force behind economic growth.

In Minnesota, small businesses account for over 99 percent of all businesses and employ over half of the workforce. It is no exaggeration to say that the success of our economy is tied to the success of our small businesses.

The Federal Government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world, and there is no better way for the government to support small businesses than to ensure they have every opportunity to contract with it.

The scorecard system, which is used to determine if the government is doing a good job contracting with small businesses, needs improvement. Agencies are graded on the total number and value of small business contracts, yet they do not factor in small businesses who won a Federal contract for the first time.

Without incorporating this into the agency scorecard grade, we have no ability to tell whether the pool of small businesses are first-time contractors or multiyear contractors. If the government continuously rewards the same firms time and time again, a new small business that has a more efficient, less expensive way of doing things may be discouraged from entering the marketplace altogether.

My bill, the SPUR Act, addresses this concern. It will require the SBA to account for the number of new entrants into the Federal procurement space when it grades agencies for use in its scorecard. Too many Federal agencies fall short of their goals for awarding contracts to small businesses, leaving billions of dollars in contracts out of reach of American small businesses and increasing the cost for taxpayers.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the SPUR Act.

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