Official Figures Show Agencies Exceeded Small Business Goal in '05 Federal agencies awarded 25.4% of prime contract dollars to small businesses in fiscal 2005, according to official figures, exceeding the 23% goal for the third straight year. The accuracy of figures compiled by the Federal Procurement Data System is widely disputed, but they are the government’s only official measurement of its performance. The report shows the government again fell short of its goals for contracting with woman-owned businesses, HUBZone firms and companies owned by service-disabled veterans. (See separate story for agency-by-agency results.) The Defense Department, which accounts for more than 60% of federal procurement, exceeded the 23% goal for the first time, awarding 24.6% of its dollars to small firms. Outgoing SBA Administrator Hector Barreto said the figures show that “[t]he president and his administration are committed to helping small businesses get their fair share of government contracts.” But a persistent SBA critic, Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, said, “I think Congress, the media, and the public are tired of the government fabricating these numbers.” Studies by the Government Accountability Office, the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity and others have documented widespread examples of large businesses being counted as small ones in official figures, inflating the small-business market share. In addition to data-entry errors, SBA says the miscoding often occurs when a company outgrows its size standard during the life of a contract or is acquired by a larger business. Chapman challenged SBA to release the names of all companies receiving contracts that were counted as small businesses. He contends many of them are actually large companies. The Small Business League has sued for access to the records. SBA said small firms were awarded a record $79.6 billion in prime contracts, an increase of about 14% over the previous year. Highlights of the official report: The 8(a) share of the federal market increased to 3.3%, from 2.8% the year before. Woman-owned businesses received 3.3% of prime contract dollars, up from 3.0% the year before. The government has never met the congressionally mandated 5% goal for woman-owned firms. Companies owned by service-disabled veterans received 0.6% of dollars, up from 0.4% in 2004. The government has never come near its 3% goal for SDV firms. HUBZone firms won 1.9% of the dollars, up from 1.6% the year before. The government has never come near its 3% HUBZone goal. Agencies again exceeded the 5% goal for small disadvantaged businesses, awarding 6.9% of dollars to those firms. That includes awards to 8(a) companies, which are classified as SDBs. Housing and Urban Development was the friendliest cabinet-level department to small businesses, awarding 63.6% of its dollars to those firms. HUD also led in awards to 8(a) and woman-owned companies. The Energy Department again ranked last, awarding 4.1% of its prime contract dollars to small firms. More than 80% of Energy’s procurement budget goes to the large prime contractors that run its installations.