During fiscal year 1964, due to the agency's adoption of a more active role in attracting new suppliers for GSA's procurement programs, more than 113,000 businessmen were counseled by GSA business service center personnel. The result of this has been to spread the agency's contract dollars over a broader base of suppliers, and by obtaining increased competition, effect price savings for the Government. Evidence of the benefits of this program in attracting new suppliers who have received awards is now being received in reports. For example, a listing of 20 contracts awarded by 6 of our regional offices to new bidders has indicated that their successful bids were an average of 11 percent lower than the second low bidders. Our business service center in Denver, for example, has just reported that 11 contracts awarded recently to new bidders have resulted in savings of $72,302. A documented report of contracts awarded in the month of March 1965 by our San Francisco regional office indicates that savings of $27,016 have resulted from the award of contracts to new bidders obtained through GSA's market research and development program. DISCONTINUANCE OF PROCUREMENT ADVISORY CENTER As requested by the subcommittee in its report to the Congress of September 1964, GSA has reviewed the situation in regard to the discontinuance, as of May 22, 1964, of the procurement advisory center, which was operated for many years by the Department of the Army and, more recently, by the Small Business Administration. It is our considered judgment, Madam Chairman, that ample information is currently available to potential bidders and others, and that the public's best interests are being served through other existing Government facilities, policies, and procedures, as follows: 1. Federal procurement regulations which are issued by GSA provide for Federal procurement offices to maintain and make maximum use of bidders mailing lists, publicize procurement and contract award information in the Commerce Business Daily, display copies of invitations for bids in public places, and provide interested firms with bidding and contract awards information. 2. GSA's business service centers, located in 11 cities throughout the United States, provide businessmen with one step counseling service and assistance in dealing with the Government. They also provide detailed information and guidance on such subjects as location of contracting offices, how to get on bidders mailing lists, how and where to obtain Government specifications, how to introduce new or improved items into Government supply systems, and how to keep informed on current bidding opportunities. GSA business service personnel also participate in business opportunity meetings sponsored by local business or Government groups. 3. GSA representatives, trained to provide basic procurement information and assistance to businessmen, are located in more than 100 additional cities throughout the country. In view of the foregoing, we believe that the provisions of the Federal procurement regulations, the facilities, information, and services available from our business service center and GSA representatives provide business concerns with ample information and the means to develop fully their capability and potential for doing business with the Government. In addition, the Commerce Business Daily which is published 5 days a week by the Department of Commerce, is an extremely valuable source of contracting information to the business public. It provides daily information to the business public. It provides daily information on all military procurement actions of $10,000 or more, all GSA procurement of $2,500 or more, and all civilian procurements of $5,000 or more. This includes proposed procurements, contract awards, subcontracting leads, foreign business opportunities, surplus property sales, and research and development sources sought. In fiscal year 1964, 90.5 percent of GSA's total procurement dollars were expended under advertising methods. Representative GRIFFITHS. Do you have a public opening of those bids? Mr. KNOTT. A public opening. Representative GRIFFITHS. And it goes to the lowest bidder? Representative GRIFFITHS. The lowest bidder or the lowest qualified bidder? Mr. KNOTT. Well, it has qualifying conditions. He has to be the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Representative GRIFFITHS. Proceed. Mr. KNOTT. This includes awards made to small business firms under small business restricted advertising procedures but does not include orders placed with commercial suppliers under indefinite contract awarded by other agencies. Our experience, thus far, indicates that this level will be maintained during fiscal year 1965. GSA, in fiscal year 1964, placed 53.2 percent of the dollar volume of its total prime contracts, or $451.4 million, with small business firms. This was an increase of 12.7 percent above the fiscal year 1963 figure of 40.5 percent, or $328.9 million. Prominent among the beneficiaries of this increase were small business construction contractors as evidenced by the fiscal year 1964 proportion of GSA's Public Building Service contracts which went from 36 percent of total awards made to small business firms in fiscal year 1963 to 56.7 percent in fiscal year 1964. During the first 6 months of fiscal year 1965 this trend continued, with 57.4 percent of GSA's dollar volume of its total prime contracts, or $264.2 million, being placed with small business firms. We had a substantial public building program last year which accounted for a great deal of the increase in the public building steel. This, Madam Chairman, is our reporting summary. We do have some charts for the record. Representative GRIFFITHS. They will be included in the record at this point. (The charts referred to follow :) |