Government Operations committee  They're basically the oversight body of the federal government in the United States to make sure that policies concerning small business are being applied across the federal government. There are things like a regulatory accountability act that takes effect among various governme

Government Operations committee  Yes, we would, absolutely. It's my understanding that even the procurement ombudsman has reported that there are 12% fewer federal suppliers than there were four years ago. Most of those are probably smaller companies, I would suggest to you. As contracts got bigger, that pushe

Government Operations committee  Yes, one of the areas of data that we'd like to see more of is exactly that. How many are repeat users, what percentage are repeat users, and what percentage are new companies that have never been used before? As you know, companies sometimes change names, or they are divisions o

Government Operations committee  Yes, we would. We believe, as one of our recommendations and as we have actually been saying for years, that there should be a role—and this could be OSME's—for another group to look at those large contracts and decide whether they really need to be as large as they are. As I me

Government Operations committee  In our survey from 2009, 80% told us that they got payments past 30 days. It was only when we got into the 60- to 90-day category that it dropped to 15% who waited more than 60 days to get payment from government. It has gotten a little bit better. This is one of the services OS

Government Operations committee  Yes, that could be, because it is one of the services they provide and it is one of the areas that we send our members to them to help resolve.

Government Operations committee  Yes. Some of the criteria we were thinking about include, for example, reputation within the industry for that product, permitting them to go to other clients with the same product to find out whether they have a good reputation, what type of after-sale service might be availabl

Government Operations committee  Do you mean reference requests from OSME?

Government Operations committee  Was there a reference request from OSME?

Government Operations committee  I'm not sure. To my understanding, OSME is there to help facilitate getting people through the contracting process. Our members are not really using OSME in that capacity. We're hopeful that when they do use them they are able to get some of that information from them, but OSME,

Government Operations committee  Yes, we have had that comment come to us, and not just when it comes to technology but in other areas of procurement as well. We call it bundling. It has been occurring for the last few years, and we have seen it in things like temporary health services and translation services,

Government Operations committee  Those would have been the ones who are actually doing procurement.

Government Operations committee  Probably not. Having said that, we were advocates of an office like OSME, and I don't want to say they shouldn't exist, that they're not doing good work. I think they are trying. The problem is they are not well known. Perhaps they're not structured the right way, or perhaps bein

Government Operations committee  One possibility, if you want to be independent, is to look at the procurement ombudsman's office.

Government Operations committee  Honestly, I don't know if it would have that much more exposure through Industry than it would through Public Works.