We've done a lot of writing recently about the importance of giving small firms a level playing field to compete for government contracts, but according to the Wall Street Journal today, the US government has missed its target for giving contracts to small firms again, and by a larger margin than last year.
Federal agencies awarded 21.5% of their contracts worth just over $93
billion to small businesses in fiscal 2008, which ran from Oct. 1, 2007
through Sept. 30, 2008, falling short of its 23% goal set by law.
As the WSJ notes, this is particularly problematic given the economy:
Hit by the recession, small-business owners are eager to win Uncle Sam
as a new customer, and right now there are billions of dollars of extra
dollars up from grabs as contracts start to flow from the $787 billion
economic-stimulus package passed five months ago…
Hopefully, Commerce's new efforts can help reverse this trend:
On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and SBA Administrator Karen
Mills announced a government-wide plan that includes federal agency
procurement officials holding or participating in more than 200 events
over the next 90 days to share information on government contracting
opportunities, including those available under the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act.