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Most Agencies Fail Small Businesses

According to a new report by the Small Business Administration, more than 2/3 of government agencies "failed to meet small business contracting goals last year."

From Government Executive:

According to SBA's report on fiscal 2006 contracting, a total of $77.7 billion -- or 22.8 percent of all federal contract dollars -- went to small businesses. This was just short of the governmentwide goal of 23 percent. A bill that passed the House in May would increase that statutory goal to 30 percent. [...] Just seven of 24 agencies met their small business contracting performance standards: the Agriculture, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Veterans Affairs departments, and the SBA itself.

But the bulk of agencies fell well short of these goals. For example, the Defense Department -- far and away the government's largest procurer of goods and services -- awarded 21.8 percent of its contracts to small businesses and met only the small disadvantaged business goal.

It's important to make sure small businesses aren't shut out of the process. Thankfully, there are new laws passed by the Congress to toughen standards.