Obama renews initiative helping small fed contractors get paid quickly

Management

Obama renews initiative helping small fed contractors get paid quickly

President Obama announced Friday that he will renew the QuickPay initative, requiring federal agencies to expedite payments to small business contractors. He also...

Federal News Network Staff

July 11, 2014 11:38 am

1 min read

By Ellen Kortesoja
Federal News Radio

President Barack Obama announced Friday his plans to renew the QuickPay initiative, which requires agencies to pay small business contractors in an expedited fashion. The President also announced the creation of a similar private-sector program.

QuickPay launched in 2011 and saw over $1 billion in cost savings for small businesses, the White House said in a release.

The memorandum for QuickPay’s first launch mandated that agencies speed up the pay process to small business contractors. It requires payments made within 15 days of receiving a proper invoice, rather than a 30-day period.

QuickPay was only temporarily available to subcontractors at first. Friday’s announcement increases the availability of faster pay for small business contractors working with agencies.

The new private-sector initiative, called SupplierPay, is modeled after QuickPay’s success.

Twenty-six large and small companies have committed to the SupplierPay initiative — including Apple, Coca-Cola, Intuit, Lockheed Martin and IBM.

“SupplierPay demonstrates a recognition that a healthy supply chain is good for business,” the release said.

The committed companies will support small business suppliers by paying them faster and helping them get access to lower cost capital.

The White House said small businesses were disproportionately affected by the economic recession, “losing 40 percent more jobs than the rest of the private sector combined.”