Bill would streamline the procurement process, increase transparency, and increase competitiveness in contracting by increasing the number of bids received

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Contact: Nolan Treadway, 202-445-0361, ntreadway@dccouncil.us

Washington, DC – Today, Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, Chair of the Committee on Business and Economic Development introduced the “Accessible and Transparent Procurement Amendment Act of 2017” [B22-0395] along with the following co-introducers: Councilmembers Charles Allen, Anita Bonds, Mary Cheh, David Grosso, Brianne Nadeau, Elissa Silverman, Robert White, and Trayon White.

This measure would require the District government to place all District government solicitations over $25,000 on a single website that provides machine-readable and searchable information. Additionally, the bill also requires the Executive to post a list of all contracts in the preceding year that had a closing date of less than 30 days from the date of issuance.

Currently, residents and businesses have to scour an array of District government websites in order to learn about new contracting opportunities. That gives larger companies with the resources to continually check dozens of websites a leg up on smaller businesses – and that means the District government gets fewer bids on these contracts, potentially wasting taxpayer dollars.

With introduction of this legislation, Councilmember McDuffie said:

“The end result of this measure will be a simple, transparent procurement solicitation website with all of the District’s opportunities available to search.  This should lead to more competitive bids from contractors and vendors which in turn means better results for the District at a better price.

Additionally, posting the list of solicitations with closing dates of less than 30 days will enhance transparency and ensure that residents can easily learn about the justification for contracts with extremely fast turnaround times.”