This may prove to be the most significant news of the week: The Senate approved Sen. Tom Coburn’s amendment to the defense authorization bill to bar awarding of non-competitive contracts. Here’s how the Oklahoma Republican described the significance of the amendment:
“Contracts to design or construct military hardware and equipment for our men and women in combat should be awarded based upon merit rather than political connections or calculations. The billions of dollars Congress doles out each year in earmarked projects are essentially ‘no-bid’ grants or contracts handed out to pre-selected, individual recipients. Bypassing the standard competitive grants and contracts process is unacceptable and leaves Congress no way of guaranteeing taxpayer dollars are going to the most cost-efficient and qualified entity to perform a service.”
The amendment also requires the Pentagon “to provide a report to Congress every year with the name of the recipients of the funds awarded, the reasons the recipient was selected and the number of entities that competed for the earmark contract,” according to Coburn.
If these provision make it into law – and there is still a long way to go in the legislative process before that will happen – the provision requiring a report on who got the contract and why, and who competed for it couldbecome an important precedent for all government contract work.
