IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday August 23, 2011
White House Adopts MBRT Recommendation
on Increasing Contracts for Small and Minority
Businesses After Government Fails to Meet Goals
- MBRT calls for OMB Director to send memo to all Agency Heads directing
them to use the SBA 8(a) contracting vehicle and small business set-asides
- Prioritize small and minority business federal contracting as a means to grow
the U.S. economy and create jobs
- Urges a minimum 1% increase amounting to $6 Billion in federal
procurement
Washington, D.C. – – With the federal government’s failure to meet its 23% small
goals again and every year since the goals were enacted and the federal government
poised to spend approximately $120 billion in the fourth quarter, the government should
prioritize and focus on spending more with small and minority businesses, the Minority
Business RoundTable said in a recent letter to President Obama.
MBRT called on the White House to do more and increase contracts with small and
minority business set-asides for SDBs, SDVOSBs, HUBZone and WOSBEs which are not
receiving their fair share of the federal procurement pie. Too many contracts (about
80%) are going to large businesses under contract bundling or existing IDIQ and GSA
Schedule contracting vehicles that exclude small and minority businesses.
In a recent published article in the Federal Times, Roger A. Campos, CEO of the MBRT
commented that this is especially troublesome as the American Small Business League
reported that they may have found $8.8 billion as being counted as “small businesses” in
the federal agencies small business numbers. The Fairness in Procurement Alliance also
cited that agencies did not certify their numbers as being accurate. So the reality is that
the government may have under represented its small business and set-aside contracting
statistics by almost 10%.
“That’s about $10 billion lost. Just think if there were a 1% increase, it would translate
into $6 billion out of the $600 Billion the government buys annually from businesses. If
the government would prioritize this small business and set-aside sector for increased contracts, the U.S. economy would see a positive growth impact and these businesses
would create jobs and restore confidence in the financial and consumer marketplace”,
Campos said.
About the Minority Business RoundTable:
The Minority Business RoundTable is the only national non-profit organization for CEOs of the nation's leading African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American and other minority-owned businesses. Its members analyze and help formulate effective public policies that impact minority-owned business. Our corporate members work to create sustainable communities and national economic viability through successful partnerships.
The Minority Business RoundTable is proud to have Johnson & Johnson, Glaxco Smith Kline, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Equifax, the Allegis Group and Aerotek, Inc., IMPAC Real Estate Holdings, the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of the country’s leading corporations, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency and other federal agencies, corporations and business trade groups as strategic partners. For more information on the Minority Business RoundTable, please visit www.mbrt.net.
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Minority Business Roundtable
1629 K Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20006
202-289-8881
rogercampos@mbrt.net
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