Small-Business Contracting Goals - Will Remain the Same

This is our third and final posting on the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was released from conference committee last week. This Act has yet to pass the full House and Senate but from all accounts, it will. Previously we reported on two provisions in the Senate's version that did not make it out of committee, the arbitrary caps on employee compensation and the unlimited access to internal audit reports by Government auditors.

One of the provisions that did not make the final cut was to increase the small-business contracting goal from 23 to 25 percent. Section 1631 of the Senate's version included a provision that allowed the President to set small-business contracting goals at whatever he wanted but not less than 25 percent. Every year, it seems, small-business advocates try to increase the statutory goals for awarding contracts and subcontracts to small businesses. And, each year the provisions get pulled.

Of course, goals are goals and the real measure of success is ascertaining how well the Government is doing in achieving those goals. So far, the Government has never met the old goal of 23 percent so what is the point in increasing a percentage that cannot be met? OMB (Office of Management and Budget) recently announced an initiative to help Government agencies meet those goals. You can read about that initiative here.