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AIA Opposes Draft Executive Order on Political Donations

May 12, 2011

The Aerospace Industries Association expressed deep concern about the effect that a draft Executive Order on political donations would have on the government contracting process if implemented.

“As written, the Executive Order introduces the possibility that donations to a political party or candidate will be a considered when contract proposals are evaluated,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey in testimony at a joint hearing of the House Small Business and Oversight and Government Reform Committees today. “Political contributions should never be considered by any procurement officer when making a contract award decision.”

AIA supports greater transparency and accountability in the federal contracting arena. Reporting requirements for political contributions that apply evenly across the board for all individuals and organizations already exist. The Executive Order would impose an undue burden for reporting by federal contractors that would not apply to other individuals or organizations, infringing on their constitutional rights.

“To comply with this order, each federal contractor will have to develop, implement and maintain a system to track and record all personal political contributions,” Blakey said. “This additional cost burden is particularly challenging for small companies. They simply don’t have the resources to meet this mandate.”

“We cannot support actions that introduce politics into federal contracting,” Blakey said. “We’re urging President Obama to withdraw this Executive Order without additional consideration.”

Read full statement. (PDF format)