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Competition EO and the Defense Procurement Community

Authors

Liza Craig

On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed out Executive Order 14036, Promoting Competition in the American Economy. This Executive Order is sweeping in nature and is aimed at promoting competition across a broad range of sectors. One area of focus relates to defense contracting and procurement. In the Executive Order, there is a very clear mandate for all federal agencies to consider how competition is currently being achieved in public procurement and to adopt innovative practices to to promote competition. The Executive Order also details a number of specific recommendations for the Department of Defense. These include requiring  DoD to submit a report assessing the state of competition within the defense industrial base. 

I joined many of my colleagues in a more thorough discussion of this Executive Order a few weeks ago, which you can read here: https://www.reedsmith.com/en/perspectives/2021/07/unprecedented-executive-order-14036

In the coming weeks, we will launch a podcast series devoted to discussing the Executive Order and its impacts, including those that will be felt by the defense contracting community. I hope you will tune in!

Robust competition is critical to preserving America’s role as the world’s leading economy. Yet over the last several decades, as industries have consolidated, competition has weakened in too many markets, denying Americans the benefits of an open economy and widening racial, income, and wealth inequality. Federal Government inaction has contributed to these problems, with workers, farmers, small businesses, and consumers paying the price.

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