Testimony to Small Business Subcommittee focuses on the detrimental impacts of Category Management and Tiered Spending on small businesses

CHANTILLY, Va., Oct. 13, 2021 – Alba M. Alemán, CEO of Citizant, Inc., testified to the U.S. House Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure, about the detrimental impacts to small businesses of the Federal procurement practices of Category Management and Tiered Spending.

Ms. Alemán was invited by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce to participate in a hearing titled “Growing the Small Business Supplier Base in Government Contracting.” She spoke on behalf of woman-owned businesses and other small businesses that find it increasingly difficult to compete with large business for government contracts. Ms. Alemán’s complete written testimony (PDF) is available on Citizant.com.  A recording of the hearing is available online.

Citizant, an award-winning DevSecOps innovator and data engineering firm, has supported the advancement and competitiveness of WOSBs throughout its history. In partnership with the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Citizant is advocating for the U.S. government to change the rules around “Category Management” procurement to prevent further depletion of the nation’s small-business supplier base.

“The facts about the impact of BICs and Tiered Spending on small businesses are clear and overwhelming. At the end of the day, the steering of government spending to large businesses results in the loss of millions of small business jobs,” Alemán testified. “With a concentration of contracting in the hands of fewer large businesses, the government loses the benefit of competition to lower prices. And the hollowing out of small businesses in our Defense industrial base creates national security risks in countless industry sectors.

“Small businesses have the will and the drive to succeed in government contracting. But the opportunity is lacking. In 2008, I was able to win a seat at the table – in full and open competition – to bring innovation and ingenuity to the Department of Treasury. Because of Category Management, I no longer have a seat at that table. My company is at the mercy of large businesses in my market space that are waiting for me to suffer long enough so that they can buy my staff and my intellectual property for pennies on the dollar.”

A recording of the subcommittee hearing will be available via the House Small Business Committee’s website.

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About Citizant, Inc.

Citizant designs and delivers smarter, leaner business and IT modernization solutions for the U.S. government. The company employs leading experts in Agile transformation, DevSecOps automation, enterprise data management, and organizational maturity. Citizant’s Civilian Business Unit is appraised at Maturity Level 3 for both CMMI® Development and Services Version 2.0, making Citizant the 4th company worldwide to achieve this distinction. The company is also certified in ISO 9001:2015 for Talent Acquisition, ISO 20000-1:2018 for Shared Services, and ISO 27001:2013 for Information Security. Citizant, an SBA-certified Woman Owned Small Business, is headquartered in Chantilly, Va., with employees supporting government customers in 27 states and Puerto Rico. Follow Citizant on LinkedIn and Twitter.