"Bundling" and Small Business

It would be beneficial if the end users were cognizant of what they were asking vendors to bid on. There have been many "E-Buy" solicitations that we have passed on because tossed into the package of furniture is some oddball piece that locks the bid into a larger firm that will only work with their "preferred" dealers and effectively garnering the entire package. Making it mandatory for the requestor to select product from the GSA Advantage site rather than surfing the web and picking the cheapest item and using that as a benchmark would also benefit small business. First, the requisitioning office would know what their budget should be up front and second, it would give the small business an actual chance to provide an item that is approved for contract. The other downside to the CTA is that so many of the larger companies will also require us to provide deposits and payments upon shipping that many of us don't have the ability to do given that we won't get paid for a minimum of 45 days from the Government.