A recent report released at a large federal contracting conference put the final nail in the coffin. According to the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), over the last 10 years, the number of businesses providing services to the federal government has shrunk 38%. Worse still, among contractors holding small business contracts, the sector shrunk 41%.
We better look long and hard at those numbers because what they mean is that for some time, without anybody much noticing it, small businesses serving the federal government have been getting quietly eviscerated.
The Pentagon actually noted the trend earlier this year. Said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, a “substantial decline” in competition in the small business defense-industrial base poses a security threat. “We’re down to about five prime contractors,” she went on to note, adding “innovation largely occurs in the small business community. It’s a huge driver of innovation.”
The same conclusion has…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.
