Saxby Chambliss

Mr. President, we have all just heard a very moving, a very inspirational and what I considered a motivational speech from our dear friend Tom Coburn.

Twenty years ago, in 1994, there were a bunch of wild and crazy folks who got elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republicans took the majority for the first time in 42 years. They ran on a Contract with America and were led by a group of firebrand leaders. Tom Coburn was in that group of folks who got elected in 1994 to the U.S. House. I was in that group. Senator Graham was in that group. Senator Burr was in that group. Senator Wicker was in that group.

There were a few Members of that class who became known as real bomb throwers. Tom Coburn was a bomb thrower. Tom Coburn would object for the sake of objecting to anything that was going on. It didn't make any difference which side of the aisle it was coming from. But let me tell you, Tom Coburn matured into a class act, No. 1, which he always was; and No. 2, he matured into a legislator second to none.

Tom did not hesitate to object to any spending bill that came from either party if Tom Coburn believed that was not provided for in the Constitution and was something the U.S. taxpayer should not be paying for. There is nobody who has guarded the pocketbook of the taxpayers of the United States like Tom Coburn.

It is remarkable that those of us who were elected with Tom have had the opportunity to see him over the last 20 years take on major subjects that most veterans said, you know, in the end, we are going to prevail. But guess what. They never did. Tom Coburn, even though he may have lost a vote from time to time, in the end, Tom Coburn prevailed.

Tom is one tough guy too. He has been through a lot physically and, boy, what a survivor. I mean we think we have issues to deal with. None of us can imagine what Tom has gone through. When somebody comes up to me as I am walking through an airport--and they will have seen Tom Coburn on TV--and they say: What about this guy Coburn, there are two things that immediately come to mind when I think of Tom Coburn, family and faith.

First, family. Tom and Carolyn have had such a solid marriage. He tried to date her as an eighth grader and she wouldn't go out with him. But he kept pestering her long enough that she finally did and what a great marriage they have had. They have three beautiful daughters and a household of grandchildren whom he absolutely loves to death and likes to spend time with, as opposed to being here.

Secondly, Tom's faith. There is nobody I have ever met who has a stronger faith than Tom Coburn. He exhibits it on the floor, he exhibits it one-on-one, he exhibits it in the Prayer Breakfast every Wednesday morning. He is one person who has probably counseled more people in this body, on both sides of the aisle, than anybody other than the Chaplain.

On top of that, he is just a class act. He has been a dear friend. We have spent many hours on the road together, many hours on the golf course together and socializing together. There is no finer individual who ever served in the Senate than Tom Coburn. He is one of the things I am truly going to miss about leaving here. But actually, as we have already talked, we will probably now spend more time together than ever since both of us are retiring.

But, Tom, to you, I thank you for that great friendship but also thank you for what you have done for my children and my grandchildren. You are a great American and you have served this country well.

God bless you.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Lewis Sorvillo, my defense legislative fellow, be granted floor privileges for the duration of the consideration of the NDAA and/or the 113th Congress.

Madam President, the Mercer Engineering Research Center, or MERC, is the nonprofit, research and applied engineering arm of Mercer University, a private university founded in 1833 and located in a state-of-the-art research facility in Warner Robins, GA; just a short drive from Robins Air Force Base. For over 175 years, the University has served Georgia as a highly respected educational institution.

In 1984, the School of Engineering was established at the Macon, GA, campus with the charter class beginning studies in 1985. Two years later, MERC was established under the School of Engineering to provide locally available engineering and scientific services with critical specialized skills to the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, while simultaneously providing a workload support-base to the Mercer School of Engineering in its development of high-technology skills in the Middle Georgia area.

MERC has a highly qualified professional staff, complex tools and test equipment, and extensive technical capability in the fields of aircraft structural analysis and design, flight test instrumentation, reverse engineering and prototyping, laboratory structural testing, electronic warfare software algorithm development, web deployed applications with integrated database access, industrial engineering and logistics.

MERC also employs engineering interns providing an avenue for students to get real world, Air Force-related experience, and today they are the largest source of entry-level engineers for Robins Air Force Base while also providing superior support to all other military services, large and small business, and other research agencies.

MERC has been able to maintain a successful, strategic relationship with Robins Air Force Base because of its Ph.D-level knowledge of sponsors' requirements and problems; its developing capability; its broad corporate knowledge and quick response capability; independence and objectivity; freedom from conflicts of interest; and lower costs. Their demonstrated ability to provide efficient, cost effective solutions to pressing research and development problems established MERC as the preferred source of real solutions to real problems

Over the last few years, however, the Air Force and the Robins Air Force Base Small Business Office have emphasized increasing the percentage of small business contract awards; an initiative not without merit for sure. However, their interpretation and application of the Federal Acquisition Regulations, or FAR, has resulted in MERC essentially being barred from providing contracted services the likes of which they have provided with unmatched efficiency and significant savings for the Air Force for almost 30 years.

Since nonprofit research organizations by definition cannot be small businesses, they are excluded by law from competing for small business set-asides. However, the FAR offers seven equal and independent statutory authorities the U.S. government can apply which authorize, under certain conditions, contracting without providing for full and open competition.

Senior Air Force leadership at Robins Air Force Base have long supported the use of those exceptions, specifically, the so-called ``Exception Three'' which allowed for contacting without providing for full and open competition ``when it is necessary to award the contract to a particular source or sources in order to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center.''

That application of the FAR allowed Robins AFB to maintain the essential engineering capabilities of MERC to augment their own because under FAR Exception Three, MERC received sole source contracts when their expertise, flexibility and lower costs demanded it.

In recent years, however, the Small Business Office at Robins Air Force Base has approved the use of only one of the FAR exceptions, that being when ``only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.''

This application of the FAR, or misapplication if you will, makes it virtually impossible for the Robins Air Force Base to award certain contracts to any entity other than small businesses. It translates to higher costs and greater inefficiencies. Robins Air

Force Base continues to seek MERC's unique expertise and essential engineering skills, but is forced to pass money through small and large businesses to MERC adding time and cost to the product/service delivery. By demanding more awards go to small businesses, the government also suffers a loss of intellectual property, IP, since MERC transfers ownership of all said property back to the U.S. Government, while small businesses can retain IP for future revenue.

You would be hard pressed to find any bigger supporter of small businesses in the Senate than myself. However, when it comes to ensuring our men and women fighting overseas for our freedom have what they need to get the job done, there are only three things I care about: cost, schedule, and performance. Our men and women in uniform deserve that.

In this era of defense spending austerity, the Air Force can ill afford the unintended consequences of precluding entities that supply vital complex engineering solutions, along with the added benefit of cross pollination of educational experience between government employees, both civilian and military, and the best in the academic engineering community, from receiving business simply to meet a set- aside quota.

This issue is about ensuring Robins Air Force Base maintains essential engineering capabilities to supplement their own and their ability to swiftly and inexpensively select the most capable organization to provide the best product or service at the best value to the government. The Small Business Office at Warner Robins, in their attempt to carry out the Air Forces' broader goal of increasing small businesses participation, is jeopardizing the very survival of institutions provided for and protected by the FAR.

By selectively applying the FAR exceptions, the Air Force is ignoring the intent of the acquisition regulations. It is certain to destroy these few vital educational links between academic institutions and government engineers that need that level of expertise. More importantly, by ignoring FAR Exception Three, the government is limiting its ability to pursue the best solutions at the best price. We can ill-afford such consequences in this period of economic austerity, simply in the name of fostering the growth of small businesses.

I was encouraged in September when the Air Force took a step in the right direction with their approval of a Justification and Approval, J&A, for the use of other than full and open competition for an engineering, research and development contract in support of technologies and methodologies applicable to aging aircraft and support equipment. The contract will maintain essential engineering, research, and development capabilities at Robins AFB through support provided by