House chair to take on contract bundling, businesslike agencies

Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., the new chair of the House Small Business Committee, said the policy agenda he will be developing will include looking at two key ways federal agency actions affect small firms.

In an interview Monday, Manzullo said one area he is concerned about is is "contract bundling"--the growing tendency for many federal contracts to be lumped together into big packages before they are put out for bidding. Such "bundling" makes it more difficult for smaller companies to bid on federal contracts.

"We will be spending a considerable amount of time on that issue," Manzullo said.

The second issue Manzullo mentioned is the increasing tendency for government entities to compete against private sector companies.

"Prison industries are really expanding," he said. And he noted that in Chicago, "we have a situation where the Veterans Administration hospital is in the commercial laundry business. They're in the process of knocking out one of my constituents."

Manzullo said that he was still acclimating to the new post, but he did not expect to radically change the panel from what it had been under his predecessor, former Rep. James Talent, R-Mo.

"He left pretty big shoes to fill," Manzullo said, referring to the panel's record in the 106th Congress of passing 27 bills, of which 20 were signed into law.