Small Business Reauthorization Case Study

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SMALL BUSINESS REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1997 ACQUISITION REFORM INITIATIVES Acquisition reform has concentrated on simplifying processes. One simplifying initiative is to combine similar requirements that was formerly acquired on multiple contracts into a single contract. This is known as contract consolidation. When contract consolidation negatively affects small businesses ability to effectively vie for government contracts, it is known as contract bundling. The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 (SBRA) provides widespread action on the topic of bundling. The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 defines contract bundling as: “consolidating two or more procurement requirements for goods or services previously provided or …show more content…
The SBRA required federal agencies to avoid needless and unwarranted bundling and structure procurements to aid small business participation. In addition to providing the statutory definition for bundling, the most substantive additions to FAR addressed justifying bundling in the acquisition planning process, conducting market research before issuing bundled solicitations and including an evaluation factor addressing small business participation in bundled solicitations (Cheifetz, 2004). The Act also gave the SBA more power to appeal an agency’s bundling decisions to a Cabinet Secretary or Agency head (Cheifetz, …show more content…
The first report was published in June 1997. It determined that bundling was increasing in federal procurements and was adversely affecting small businesses. This study had a strong hand in Congress passing the SBRA and was the motivation for a GAO investigation. The GAO found that deficient data existed to establish the impact bundling had on small businesses. Conversely, from its narrow assessment, it determined that contract consolidation did not automatically result in bundling. It also concluded that the above study’s deductions were not acceptable, since it used another definition of bundling than