Mentor-Protege Program Wins Much Praise, Some Contracts Most participants give high marks to the Defense Department’s mentor-protégé program, according to the Government Accountability Office. The program links large prime contractors with small disadvantaged businesses for the purpose of improving the small firms’ capabilities. GAO said 98% of the former protégé companies responding to a survey would recommend the program to others. Forty-eight companies responded, about two-thirds of protégés that left the program in 2004 and 2005. But its impact on the protégés’ bottom line was mixed. Just over half of them, 52%, said they saw a moderate, great or very great increase in revenues as a result of the program; 24% reported some or a little increase; and 24% said they saw no revenue growth. Overall the 48 companies said the program produced 95 new contracts worth $131 million during their three years as protégés. The vast majority of protégés reported other benefits. About 87% said mentors aided in the development of their businesses. Almost as many said mentors helped improve their engineering or technical expertise. GAO said data is not available to determine whether the program helps DOD meet its statutory 5% goal for contracting with small disadvantaged businesses, one of its stated purposes. Auditors questioned the accuracy of DOD’s annual reports to Congress on the program because the claims of increased revenue were not verified. Auditors also found that DOD is not tracking the performance of protégé companies after they leave the program, as required by law. Last year DOD had 149 active mentor-protégé agreements. The report is GAO-07-151, available at www.gao.gov.