In a report with potentially broad implications, NASA auditors found that more than a third of the contracts to “women-owned” small businesses they reviewed appeared to be to firms controlled by the husbands.

The NASA Office of Inspector General evaluated 67 small business awards, of which 20 were to firms self-certified as women-owned.

Of those 20 reviewed, seven awards (35%) were made to firms that “may not have met the criteria for a woman-owned small business, namely that the business was at least 51% owned by one or more women and daily operations were controlled by one or more women,” the auditors wrote in the report.

The seven questionable awards were made to six firms.

“In every instance, our review found evidence that daily business operations were actually controlled and managed by the male spouse of the purported business owner,” the report said.

For example, the audit cited a case in which the male spouse had the advanced degrees and technical expertise presumably needed to run a research company.

The audit findings may have broader implications for the Women-Owned Small Business program. Women self-certify that they own and control their firms.

The six questionable firms at NASA may be the tip of the iceburg, if a similar pattern holds true at other agencies, the auditors added.

“We believe that the level of false self-certification as a woman-owned business is troubling and may exist government-wide,” the auditors wrote.

NASA’s inspector general also suggested that because the six firms at NASA with apparent false certifications received a total of $75 million in awards from dozens of federal agencies in fiscal 2010, they may have collectively impaired the accuracy of the government’s data on women-owned firms.

“Federal procurement organizations...may have overstated progress toward meeting woman-owned business contracting goals by the same amount ($75 million). Therefore, based on the potential Government-wide effect of this condition, we have referred our audit conclusions to GAO and the SBA for possible review,” the auditors wrote.

Despite those problems, the auditors said NASA had adequate controls in place and there were no indicators that ineligible firms had used eligible firms as pass-throughs or that firms had delivered goods or services that did not meet contract requirements.

The audit did not name the six firms with alleged false certifications.

More information: NASA audit: http://goo.gl/sjADa