Small Business Report Cards
Half of the 24 federal agencies examined by the Small Business Administration failed to meet small business contracting goals.
That's according to a first-ever report card that will be announced by the agency later today.
The Pentagon and General Services Administration were among a dozen agencies that failed to meet federal mandates for small business awards, or failed to direct work to companies owned by women, service-disabled vets and other disadvantaged groups. They received "red" scores in the report.
Five other agencies performed better in reaching their goals. Seven agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Energy and Homeland Security, were rated "green" for their efforts.
The report card flows from goals spelled out by SBA Administrator Steve Preston, who has openly acknowleged some longstanding problems with small business contracting since he took office a year ago.
Among other things, he has been prodding the SBA and other agencies to clean up the numbers collected by the government about small business procurement. Today, Preston will lay claim to finding and clearing out almost $5 billion worth of contracts that were misreported in federal data systems as small business-related. That change decreased the proportion of small business contracts claimed for 2005 by 2 percent. It also meant that just 22.8 percent of contracts awarded last year were small business-related, which is just shy of federal mandates.
A total of $77.7 billion in federal contracts were awarded to small businesses in fiscal 2006, according to the SBA.
Last November, Preston announced new rules that require companies with federal contracts to recertify that they qualify as small businesses. The new rules, which took effect in June, mean that agencies can no longer claim contracts are small business-qualified if those businesses have been acquired by large businesses.
"These changes - increased accuracy, transparency and accountability -- provide a real window of opportunity for America's small businesses," Preston said in a press release. "In order to meet their goals in 2007 and beyond, Federal agencies will have to work harder to place more contracts with small businesses."
These efforts are sure to stir the pot of federal procurement. Though it is almost conventional wisdom that the small business system has problems, and there is much frustration all around, there are plenty of differences over how to proceed. Some people in both the government and contracting world would prefer to let matters rest. What do you think?
By Robert O'Harrow |
August 17, 2007; 5:25 AM ET
small business
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Posted by: x | August 18, 2007 1:14 PM
When will the general public realize that the goals is just a numbers game and agencies contracting officers award contracts to folks they know. It's all about relationships. If you don't know the agencies and don't have a relationship, you can't get your telephone call returned.
Posted by: D. Parker | August 20, 2007 7:49 AM
It doesn't matter what S. Preston does to clean up the reporting numbers - the Federal Government is still counting awards to multi-billion dollar Alaskan Native Corporations as small business awards. When you take ANC's out of the equation - what are the "real" contracting awards to small businesses?? Sen. Ted Stevens is finally starting to get some of the scrutiny he deserves from years of power mongering and corruption. It is time Congress looked hard at how Government contracts are funneled without bid to Alaskan Native firms. The Govt Oversight Committee holds hearings, but what is ever done for reform?
Posted by: TB | August 20, 2007 8:07 AM
Hello, I am a minority female business owner and I have been trying for a long time to get government contracts and have been unsucessful. It is about time that someone is doing something about this problem. I am tickled to death to find that SBA is finally addressing the issues with small business not getting their fair share of government contracts. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, SBA Administrator Steve Preston.
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Posted by: Harry Harding | December 15, 2007 12:55 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Its been 24 hours since this item was posted and not one comment. I guess most everyone prefer to let matters rest.
For me, I believe this is a good beginning to bring transparency to small business contracting. Its about time.
Hooray for SBA.