Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan Security and Reconstruction Act, 2004-Continued

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN SECURITY AND RECONSTRUCTION ACT, 2004—CONTINUED

AMENDMENT NO. 1820

(Purpose: To limit the obligation and expenditure of funds for using procedures other than full and open competition for entering into certain contracts or other agreements for the benefit of Iraq)

Ms. COLLINS. The amendment my colleague from Oregon and I are offering tonight requires the use of full and open competition for the award of contracts under this bill to support our military or related to the reconstruction of Iraq.

Competitive bidding ensures the taxpayer gets the very best value for his investment. It also enhances public confidence that contracts are awarded in a manner that is fair and transparent, a process that allows all qualified bidders to submit bids for the contract.

This principle of full and open competition is enshrined in the Competition and Contracting Act, which is current law.

Under that law, contracts must generally be bid under full or open competition unless one of seven exemptions is invoked.
Unfortunately, however, some of the contracts that have been awarded to date, both to support our military in Iraq and to begin reconstruction efforts, have not been awarded using full and open competition. The contracting process has been curtailed.

We want to make sure the general rule is competitive bidding, and, if there are cases where there are legitimate reasons for curtailing competition—say, for reasons of national security—then we believe there should be a process in place that requires a justification for curtailing competition and disclosure of that fact.

Generally, under our amendment, if competition is not used in the award of a contract, the agency involved would have to justify the reason for invoking an exception to competition and report that in the Commerce Business Daily, the Federal Register, and to the appropriate committees of Congress. We recognize there may be a few cases where it is so secret, it is so classified, that disclosure in the Commerce Business Daily and the Federal Register would not be appropriate. In those cases, we provide for an alternative form of notifying Congress.

Our amendment will bring accountability and sunshine to the competition and contracting process. I urge my colleagues to support our amendment.

It has been a great pleasure to work with my colleague, Senator Wyden. We have made a number of efforts in this regard. I believe this amendment should enjoy widespread support.

I reserve the remainder of my time and I yield to the Senator from Oregon.