Prime Contractors Missing Opportunities for Ethical Leadership

Just think what $6.5 billion directed to U.S. small businesses could mean to our economy’s recovery and job growth.  Prime contractors (REALLY LARGE businesses) for government contracts could have provided such a financial boost last year, but failed to do so. 

How?

Congress mandates government agencies spend 23 percent of their combined contracting money through small businesses annually, but agencies fell short of that goal in fiscal 2008, according to a Small Business Administration (SBA) report released last month. The report shows that only 21.5 percent of the $434 billion in contracts spending in 2008 was through small businesses. That means $6.5 billion was pulled off the table of small businesses – a tragic, missed opportunity.

Why?

 As reported by the National Association of Government Contractors, Joseph Jordan, SBA’s associate administrator for government contracting and business development, believes that wartime and homeland security-related contracting is a major reason for the drop in small-business spending. The Defense Department “is procuring weapons systems, Humvees and tanks,” prime business contracting that small business can’t play a role in, Jordan said.  

Why they’re wrong!

Using BioEchoes’ as only one example, our small, woman-owned biomedical engineering business could have participated in virtually every major DOD procurement contract for “weapons systems, Humvees and tanks” (and many others.) Our bioengineering firm is uniquely qualified to provide critical system safety analyses of procurements or acquisitions according to the new best practices standards issued by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).  Very few, if any, prime contractors have implemented these new system safety standards and I am unaware of any prime contractor that has our unique expertise and experience within their own company.  I’m quite sure hundreds of other small business “missed opportunity” examples also exist.

Prime contractors (and agencies awarding their contracts) need to throw away the excuses and demonstrate some out-of-the-box thinking and true ethical leadership.  Follow the mandate of Congress to award that $6.5 billion or more annually to where it belongs – small businesses.