The Washington Post

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Link to the Original Article

It seems as though the role of small businesses in federal contracting ought to be making bigger news. After all, Congress has mandated that a quarter of all contracting dollars ought to be set aside for "small businesses." That's a lot of dough.

As many of you know, there's a lot of fuzzy math that comes with the set-aside mandates, along with a lot of fuzzy logic.

Some of the nation's largest contractors routinely get counted as small businesses when agencies are tallying up their good deeds for oversight reports. The Transportation Security Administration doesn't even have to bother. It was exempted from Federal Acquisiton Regulations when it was formed after the terror attacks in 2001.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, wants to take a crack at changing matters.

Last week, he attached an amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations bill that will require TSA to ensure that "at least 23 percent of federal contracts" go to small and disadvantaged businesses. His admendment would require TSA compliance within 180 days.

At the same time, a report in Set-Aside Alert, an industry newsletter whose title says it all, said the SBA is conducting a review of small business "size standards" over the next two years. A business's size is determined by standards that include the number of employees and revenue. Some people contend that those formulas are both out of date and routinely abused.

To be sure, all of this sounds arcane. But as I said before, this stuff adds up -- to many billions. Warren Corbett, editor of Set-Aside, said the small business corner of federal contracting needs a lot more attention.

"The small business community doesn't have the clout of a Lockheed or Northrop Grumman," he said. "But the law is on the books. Small businesses are supposed to get 23 percent. There's no way they really get it."

I'm going to try to do my part in raising awareness by trying to understand where all the small business money is really going. Anybody want to help?