Does Small Biz Get Fair Share of ARRA-Funded Contracts?
Jun 1st, 2009 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyDuring the 111th Congress to date, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship has convened three separate hearings to explore various aspects of access to capital. Last month, during Small Business Week, Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA) presided over another hearing, to begin looking into the other issue facing small firms: a need for paying customers. And, very naturally, the U.S. government is a particularly attractive customer at any time, being the number one purchaser of goods and services in the world. But so far, evidently, only 10% of ARRA-related contracts have been awarded to small businesses and that is unacceptable to both Landrieu and Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
Persuading federal procurement officers to buy things from small businesses has been a perpetual problem for the congressional oversight committees that hold whip-cracking power over this government activity. There is a government-wide small business goal of 23% of contract awards per fiscal year, a goal that is almost never met. And even if they did meet that goal, one wonders how much impact that would have if all of those contracts are awarded to only a few thousand small businesses. Or even a few tens of thousands of small businesses, which still isn’t very much of a universe of 27 million. The biggest problem for most microbusinesses is the complexity of the procurement process and the confusing way the relevant information is posted online. However, all is not lost. If Chairwoman Landrieu is serious about her desire to explore the SBA’s size standards further, the issue of small business procurement would seem to be a shoe-in topic for part of that conversation.
