A bill that has been introduced in the Senate is designed to expand the use of Strategic Sourcing and reverse auctions and make these procurement methods mandatory and permanent throughout all agencies and all GSA multiple award schedules. The General Services Administration(GSA) is responsible for management of the majority of federal supply purchases, and their Strategic Sourcing program is responsible for the funneling of awards from a pool of 500+ contractors into the hands of only 15 contractors on one multiple award schedule for office supplies alone.  The result has been a decrease in revenue of more than 70 million dollars to the majority GSA Multiple Award Schedule 75 office supplies contractors, both large and small.  OVER 400 SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ALREADY BEEN NEGATIVELY IMPACTED… and this was the pilot project for GSA Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) programs. If GSA succeeds in the expansion of FSSI to all Schedules, 70, 36, 67, 71, etc., it will essentially be the Death Knell for
Small Business Federal Contracting in America!

Realistically, we all want the government to save money. However,  this bill (as currently written) has serious unintended consequences that will devastate small businesses nationally, and in the end is unlikely to result in real savings.  This is not just speculation: this bill effectively expands the GSA's Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative that awarded blanket purchase agreements to just 15 of the 569 "Schedule 75" contractors.  The great majority of Schedule 75 contract holders are now struggling to survive, and the intent of Senate Bill S.1736 is to mandate the expanded use of the FSSI program to all GSA multiple award schedules, affecting dozens of industries, and thousands of businesses nationally.  The wording in the bill that appears to protect small businesses at first glance, truly only protects only the dollar volume to businesses that were small when awarded, not the number of businesses utilized or dollar volumes under the full term of the resulting contracts.  This effectively concentrates spending to a few lucky winners that will de facto no longer be small businesses as spending is funneled to them. 

This bill is the equivalent of saying were going to save money by picking a dozen restaurants that all Americans will eat at for the next four years, which will be either a current big chain or the next big chain fast food restaurant, driving every independent restaurant that provides quality, affordable, and local service out of business.  The trend of concentrating more and more spending through giant blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) is anti-small-business, and ultimately anti-competitive and not cost effective.  That trend, and this bill, must be stopped and fixed.  Instead, let's utilize existing technology that allows agencies to efficiently and competitively solicit products and services from all qualified businesses, not just the lucky anointed few.  Please, please, ensure that this bill is stopped or amended to prevent the annihilation of 95% of the small businesses in your jurisdiction that provide quality and affordable products and services to the federal government. 

Write, call and/or email your senator using this template verbiage. Let them know that Senate Bill S.1736 is coming up for a vote, and urge them to vote NO on the bill.