¨ Contract Bundling is a trend that is popular in the Department of Defense

¨ Programs that have been veiled as procurement reform or cost-saving reform methods, such as Household goods reengineering, are really a process to bundle smaller contracts into one big contract, which eliminates all but the largest of businesses from the competition for Government business. This practice places small business at such a disadvantage that most are not eligible to compete for government procurement.

¨ The practice of contract bundling by government agencies is having a devastating impact on a number of industries dominated by small business. In the Household goods moving industry, contract bundling by the Department of Defense threatens to eliminate a substantial portion of the industry's infrastructure. The moving industry is over 85% small business and, with DoD being the largest procurer of moving services, it has enormous buying power. If DoD is allowed to continue its practice of contract bundling and is permitted to consolidate its buying power into one or several large contracts, many of the industry's small business firms both commercial and military, will be eliminated.

¨ The definition of contract bundling is the consolidation of two (2) or more procurement requirements for goods or services previously provided or performed under separate smaller contracts into a solicitation of offers for a single contract. The single contract is likely to be unsuitable for award to a small business concern due to the variance, size, or specialized nature of the elements of the performance specified; or the aggregate dollar value of the anticipated award; or the geographical dispersion of the contract performance sites; or any combination of the above.

¨ Substantial bundling occurs when a procuring activity consolidates procurement requirements for goods or services previously provided or performed under separate smaller contracts into a solicitation of offers for a single contract. Again, the single contract is likely to be unsuitable for award to an individual small business concern usually because the increased scope of work covers multiple geographic locations; or the scope of work covers multiple SIC codes; or the anticipated value of the resultant contract (including options) is expected to exceed $50 million.