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Washington DC – Today, Congressman Nick Larota (R-NY), Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracts and Infrastructure, led a hearing titled “.Leveling the playing field: Challenges facing small business contracts. ” Subcommittee Chairman Larota issued the following statement after today’s hearing.
“Small businesses shouldn’t have to deal with 94,000 pages of government red tape just to get in the game. It is embarrassing and even shameful that we have been shut out.” Subcommittee Chairman Larota said. “Today’s witnesses provided real-world experience that will help the Committee make meaningful improvements to ensure that small businesses are fully leveraged in the federal procurement market. We must work together to halt the decline and fight to keep Main Street open.”
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Watch the full hearing here.
Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing.
Chairman Larota: Mr. Spinosa, thank you for being here. Prior to becoming Vice Chairman of ADDAPT, Mr. Spinosa spent 44 successful years in the industry, including co-owner and Vice President of Business Development at East West Industries. And you mentioned how the federal bureaucracy is extremely difficult. There are 94,000 pages of rules and regulations for companies like the one you represent. Mr. Spinosa, in your experience, What are some of the unique challenges that small businesses encounter when navigating the Ministry’s procurement process?” Mr. Spinosa: “Thank you, Chairman. As other testimonies here have said, the challenges are daunting. You run a small business and are trying your best to keep everything together. As I mentioned earlier, when these regulations are introduced, lawyers are required to come in and help with the transition from legal talk to business talk and enforcement. And, you know, Small businesses don’t have lawyers on staff. It costs money to do this, and it costs money to bring in lawyers to do this. And ultimately, what the regulations are. We’re trying to understand that sometimes you ignore it and people come and cite you, you ignore some of the regulations, and sometimes the government ignores them. Helping companies comply with the regulations. , regulations need to be easily identifiable and clear to businesses, and everyone is on a level playing field.”
Rep. Molinaro: “In my district of Binghamton alone, the Binghamton SBDC has advised over 26,000 clients, created over 11,000 new jobs, and attracted nearly 600 million in new capital. It’s clear that SBDCs can really help. But we also know that knowledge about partnering with an SBDC can be a little tricky, so we wanted to ask both Mr. Spinosa and Mr. Lipsky if you have experience with SBDCs and if I do too. I know you’ve had experience, but what was that experience and what kind of understanding exists about what SBDCs offer and what kind of support do they provide? And , to the extent that they would like to make some suggestions on how to improve their work, we welcome that.” Mr. Lipsky: “Yes, you can comment on this. That’s why associations like Associate General Contractors also have New York state chapters, representing many upstate constituents. The problem I see for small businesses, which are subcontractors and suppliers, is that the government is competing with the private sector. So if they have the opportunity to take a deposit upfront and get their money out for something, they’re going to choose that instead of entering into a contract with a state agency or the federal government. So I think SBDCs can help bring these people into the market when it comes to partnerships, small business partnerships. ”
Senator Bean: “Yesterday, I asked a company there, has there ever been a situation this bad?” Mr. Spinosa: “There has never been a worse situation than this. It’s hard to explain the confluence of all the different things that are going on going forward with your bill. The government is willing to do things on its own and do more than the industry can. We’ve been trying to say, ‘We’re going to make this work.’ And each time they experienced it, they realized they couldn’t do it as innovatively, effectively, and economically. And the flip side of that is that organizations themselves don’t want to show that things have failed, so they try to make things look like successes. ” Senator Bean: “Mr. Taylor, what do you say, my friend? Has it been this bad before?” Mr. Taylor: “Having been doing this job for 20 years, I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs. So I think what makes this period even worse is the direction we’re headed. It seems like we’re heading in a much more difficult direction, and that’s what causes me the most concern.”
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