Biden Sets Plans for Economic Stimulus Spending Vice President Joe Biden has outlined the administration’s plans for spending economic stimulus funds in the last quarter of 2009, including a laundry list of construction, highway and national park improvement projects. Small businesses have won more than one-fourth of Recovery Act contract dollars as of Oct. 2, according to SBA. Biden said the administration intends to obligate 60% of Recovery Act funds by Dec. 31. Among the upcoming projects: •The Defense Department will begin 34 construction and modernization projects at hospitals and medical centers over the next 90 days, making a total of 65 medical facilities with projects under construction since passage of the economic stimulus act. •The Interior Department will begin on-site construction improvement work in 105 more national parks throughout the country. •By the end of the year, the departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development will have provided housing loans and capital funding to finance, build, or renovate over 100,000 households. •The departments of Energy and Treasury will help fund renewable energy projects that will generate enough alternative energy to power 900,000 homes. •By the end of the year, the Department of Transportation will have obligated enough funds to support 10,000 highway projects. Those contracts will be awarded by state and local governments. SBA said small contractors in most categories are prospering under the Recovery Act. Small businesses have won 26% of prime contract dollars, exceeding the 23% governmentwide goal, and contracting with small disadvantaged businesses, HUBZone firms and those owned by service-disabled veterans have also exceeded goals. Woman-owned businesses have received about 4% of the dollars, below the 5% goal. But Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-LA, said the performance of major departments and agencies is spotty. The Justice Department has awarded 95.8% of its dollars to small companies, while NASA has awarded only 9% and the Energy Department less than 7%. The Defense Department has been the unexpected star, with 56% of its Recovery Act dollars going to small firms as of Oct. 2. But Linda Oliver, acting director of DOD’s Office of Small Business Programs, rained on the parade of sunny forecasts. She said many projects now in the pipeline are too big for small businesses, such as military hospital construction. “We love our [small business] numbers, but we do not think that they will hold,” she told the Small Business Committee on Oct. 6. “These goals are floors, not ceilings,” Landrieu said. “We want in this recovery…that the federal government should be small businesses’ best friend. We are a huge purchaser of goods and services. This country needs jobs created.”