MICHIGAN -- U.S. Senator Gary Peters today visited MessageMakers in Lansing to announce that he will be introducing bipartisan legislation with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) to help protect small businesses from falling victim to fraud when they register to procure federal contracts.

The Procurement Fraud Prevention Act would require small businesses to be notified that free assistance is available for help in procuring government contracts through federal programs, including Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Many business owners are unaware these resources exist and fall victim to scams that mislead them into paying high sums of money for contract procurement assistance. Read Full Reference Article

Dive Brief:

• President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order on "Buy American and Hire American" policies in an effort to increase the domestic share of labor and products used in federal projects.
• The new order calls upon Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to investigate current government procurement policies at federal agencies, with an eye toward disabling poor monitoring, weak enforcement and ineffective compliance efforts, Politico reported.
• In addition, the administration will assess guest worker programs and the cost-benefits of free trade provisions, allowing for national treatment of foreign contracts compared to the reciprocal access.  Read Full Article Here.