Ask the Expert: David Madland on high road contracting

What is the problem with federal contracting?

There are several problems with federal contracting. But among the biggest is that the federal government continues to give contracts to companies that repeatedly and persistently violate the law. They cheat taxpayers, they break labor laws, they break environmental laws yet they still get contracts.

Perhaps the worst example is BP—a major federal contractor yet as we all know there was a major explosion in the Gulf causing millions and millions of dollars in damage, harming workers, and harming the environment. And taxpayers are on the hook. This could have been prevented if we had better policies in place.

The government is supposed to only do business with responsible contractors. But unfortunately, the regulations and rules are broken and need to be fixed.

What is high road contracting?

High road contracting is a new policy that would give contractors a real incentive to clean up their act. It would do this in two ways. First, it would give new tools to ensure that the government only does business with law-abiding companies. Second, it would provide incentives to reward good companies—those that consistently perform well and treat their workers well.

State and local governments have enacted similar policies for many years, and they’ve found that they are very successful in improving the quality of services that government gets and in raising standards for workers.

How will high road contracting help taxpayers and responsible business owners?

High road will help taxpayers because the government will only do business with responsible companies. That saves the government money because companies that break the law often provide really low-quality products for the government. Study after study shows this.

Businesses will also benefit because it will create a level playing field where all businesses can come in. Studies show that when states have enacted similar policies they have more companies competing because companies say they can compete on a level playing field.