WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Roger Williams (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, along with Congressman Nick Lalota, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure, wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs over concerns with the limited number of awards made in the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation 2 (T4NG2) contract vehicle. Chairman Williams issued the following statement.

“This contract from the VA has real potential to help small businesses in the IT sector grow, all the while helping our nation’s veterans. Small businesses need to have the ability to compete, so we need to make sure contracts are more accessible to our entrepreneurs,” said Chairman Williams. “Ensuring a level playing field has been one of this Committee’s goals this Congress, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can work with the VA to get it done.”

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Read the full letter here.

Read excerpts from the letter below:

“The Committee on Small Business (Committee) is investigating the limited number of awards made in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation 2 (T4NG2) contract vehicle. T4NG2 can award up to $60.7 billion in information technology (IT) services. The Committee is concerned the VA decision to award just 30 firms access to T4NG2 unnecessarily prevented additional entities, particularly many small businesses, from receiving part of this massive contract. We write today to request documents and information related to this decision. 

“A key priority of this Committee is reversing the dangerous trend of small businesses being squeezed out of federal procurement. The T4NG2 contract has the potential to provide many small businesses with growth potential while providing services in support of our nation’s veterans. Given the increased award amount in T4NG2, it seems the VA missed a crucial opportunity to include hundreds of capable small businesses, including those owned by service-disabled veterans. The award ceiling for T4NG2 rose 172.2 percent compared to the previous iteration in 2016 of $22.3 billion. At the same time, the number of firms selected only rose 42.9 percent—up to 30 contractors from 21 in 2016. It is unclear why the VA determined the contract amount should increase nearly 200 percent without proportionally increasing the number of selected to service the contract.”

Background:

Signatories include Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY).

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