Chip Swab, a member of the American Subcontractors Association (ASA), testified that business practices that encourage lower construction quality are rampant in the marketplace for subcontracted work on federal construction projects. Swab mentioned “bid shopping” as the most harmful of these practices, which are the targets of proposed legislation H.R. 4012, the Construction Quality Assurance Act of 2000.

“Of the 19 federal contracts my company has performed work on and the many more that we have bid on during the past two years, every single one has featured some form of bid shopping,” said Chip. “Today, the federal government does not get the best possible value for construction because in most cases the final decision as to which subcontractors, suppliers, and manufacturers will be used on a project are not made until after the government accepts a bid or proposal from a prime contractor.”