The Obama administration has been taking steps to include small businesses in federal strategic sourcing efforts. But the administration has not developed the baseline data and performance measures to see if those efforts have been effective, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

      The GAO said that the General Services Administration as well as several specific agencies reviewed, including the Defense and Homeland Security departments and NASA, did consider small businesses in their strategic sourcing initiatives.

      However, data on the impact on small vendors is very limited. “DHS has collected some data on contracts awarded to small businesses under strategic sourcing initiatives, but it and the other agencies in GAO's review generally did not have baseline data and performance measures to determine how small businesses were affected by strategic sourcing,” the GAO said.

      Office of Management and Budget officials previously had stated that total dollars going to small businesses for strategic sourcing of office supplies increased from a baseline of 67% prior to the strategic sourcing initiative to 76% percent afterward, the GAO said.

      For the janitorial and sanitation supplies initiative, the baseline for small business participation was 26% of the spending in fiscal year 2011. For the maintenance, repair, and operations initiative, the baseline for small businesses was 55% of the spending in fiscal year 2012. For print management, areas III and IV, the baseline was 5%.

      But those measures alone are inadequate, the GAO asserted.

      “Although our review indicates that GSA has collected baseline data on proposed government-wide initiatives, it has not developed a performance measure to determine changes in small business participation going forward. Further, we found that the data and measures maintained by the other agencies in our review do not meet the OMB reporting requirements,” the GAO said.

      “Without baseline data and performance measures, the effect of strategic sourcing initiatives on small businesses will be difficult to determine,” the GAO concluded.

More information:
http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660322.pdf