THE FAIRNESS IN PROCUREMENT ALLIANCE (FPA)

FPA is an advocacy coalition representing the procurement interests of  the economically underserved communities which Executive Order 11458 [1] intended to assist when it established ‘The Small Business Disadvantaged (SDB) Program.’  In 1978 Congress formally incorporated the SDB Program into P.L. 95-507 to make sure government contracting, would reach small businesses in those communities.  Regrettably, the economic and procurement research data, including the record of abusive contracting patterns and practices that had led to the passage of P.L. 95-507, has not been kept up-to-date in spite of Congressional demands for transparency and oversight.

FPA activities are designed to assist businesses owned and controlled by Hispanics; Blacks; Women; Veterans; Asian Americans; Native Americans; Disabled Veterans’ and/or businesses certified as 8(a) and/or located in Hub Zones. These businesses were termed ‘disadvantaged’ by Congress not because of their ‘race, gender or ethnicity,’ but by their inability of access government contracts due to their economic underserved status, lack of resources, failed attempts at breaking up the monopoly by large businesses in the space and a proven pattern of unfair practices and contracting abuses. P.L 95-507 requires the ‘maximum practicable utilization’ (MPU) of ‘disadvantaged businesses’ in government contracting.   

The mission of FPA is to bring fairness to public procurements so that small and disadvantaged businesses can both compete and prosper, as required by P.L 95-507, not only at the federal level, but at the state and local levels as well.  FPA activities are aimed at protecting and enhancing ‘procurement set-aside programs’ so they can achieve their intended result.

FPA was founded in June 2005 as a loose coalition of 14 small and disadvantaged advocacy groups which came together to support a ‘size protest’ test case (SIZ-2005-05-09-22) filed against a company which had been acting as a ‘front’ for a multi-national (large) business to unlawfully acquire ‘set-aside contracts’. The protest, which resulted in a major ‘test case victory’ for the small and disadvantaged SDB program, demonstrated that small businesses do not receive justice when they win ‘size protests’ and the entire government contracting program for small businesses needed to be revamped and strengthened.

In 2006, the small and disadvantaged business trade community formally asked FPA, at a gathering in Washington[2] , to represent their combined procurement priorities. FPA accepted and, since then, it has succeeded in numerous fronts: identifying regulations and practices that required changes, at publishing reports on contracting abuse and practices and at proposing initiatives and solutions addressing ending procurement abuse against its constituency.

FPA has produced a report detailing ‘Contracting Abuse by the Air Force’ and has been credited with conceiving such initiatives as the ‘Free Universal Access’ (FUA); the ‘Contracting Abuse Resolution Board’ (CARB) and, ‘The Umbrella Initiative’ [3] in partnership with The University of North Florida (UNF) Center for International Policy.  Additionally, FPA has challenged the ‘FAR Exemptions,’ responsible for illegally diverting $640 Billion in contracts, over the last decade, away from small businesses. This FPA effort resulted in the September 4^th, 2007 SBA Legal Ruling that declared the GSA exemption illegal which the GAO Delex Systems Decision of September 2008 has confirmed. 

FPA has also launched a successful educational effort through ‘Procurement Advisories’ aimed at creating awareness - within the procurement community - about abusive contracting practices that affect small businesses.