HR-7987 would require agencies to use plain language and key words in contract solicitations accessible to small businesses. Image: 4kclips/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe House has passed two bills related to federal agency contracting with small business:
* HR-7103 would require the head of a federal agency to testify before the Congress if the agency failed to reach specific metrics for awarding federal contracts to small businesses. It also would require agencies that failed to reach those metrics to include a plan to improve their performance in their annual report to the SBA about federal contracts.
* HR-7987 would require agencies to use plain language and key words in contract solicitations accessible to small businesses. “The smaller number of small businesses participating in contracting is, in part, exacerbated by the extremely difficult to understand language in government contract solicitations. While existing contractors have been forced to become accustomed to this language, the barrier it creates significantly hurts small businesses deciding to compete for a government contract for the very first time,” says a House report on the bill.
The House also passed HR-7032, to compel agencies to respond to requests for information from the Congressional Budget Office while requiring the CBO to continue to maintain the same level of confidentiality for the information as the agency that provides it.
Meanwhile, S-4181 has been introduced in the Senate to require better workforce planning by FEMA.
It would require FEMA to submit within one year, and then every three years afterward, a human capital operation plan to include specific retention and recruitment goals, strategies to train and deploy the workforce, and analysis of the current workforce, including gaps that need to be addressed.
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