The House Committee on Government Reform's Minority Office recently released a report done for Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) examining current trends in the government's use of noncompetitive contracts. The report discovered that under the Bush administration the amount spent on these questionable contracts increased $40 billion compared to Clinton's final year. Equally troubling is the fact that under a new development at Government Services Administration (GSA) the public will soon find it much more difficult and potentially much more expensive to explore how the government spends our tax dollars. The Waxman report, Noncompetitive Federal Contracts Increase Under the Bush Administration found that out of $300 billion spent on contracts in 2003, approximately $107 billion was decided without full and open competition. Competition for federal contracts ensures that the government gets the most fair and reasonable price and that taxpayers' money is not wasted. By law the government is required to use open bidding with a few exceptions. In rare instances contracts may be awarded without competition when the government only invites a single company to bid on the contract ⦡mp;#8364;“- sole-source bidding. The report found that the Bush administration uses these exceptions much more frequently. Without the pressures of competition forcing fair and equitable contracts the only remaining tool for accountability is information. Unfortunately, information on non-competitive contracts can be difficult to obtain. Recent changes in the management of the government⦡mp;#8364;?s procurement data may make the task even more difficult. Since 1979 the Federal Procurement Data System has provided for a nominal processing fee for access to information on federal contracts. The system has been used by journalists, investigators, academics and others to identify waste, questionable deals, and irresponsible spending. But now the Bush administration has contracted out management of the contracting data. Under this contract, Global Computer Enterprises (GCE) receives $24 million to take over the collection and distribution of government contract information from the General Services Administration (GSA). This may have serious implications for public access because as the database passes outside the government it may also move beyond the Freedom of Information Act. Even though taxpayer dollars pay to compile the data at each agency, if the public wants a copy of the information or to search data they will have to pay GCE an as yet undetermined fee. GCE said pricing will not be determined until July, but a recent Mother Jones article reported that full access could cost as much as $35,000 compared to the GSA's original $1,500 price tag. The new financial hurdles will reduce the scrutiny federal contracts receive and further weaken the integrity of the federal contracting process, which has already begun with the rise in noncompetitive contracts.