The Transportation Security Administration will be required to set goals for small business procurement under the 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations Act that was signed by President Bush.

TSA has been exempted from the Small Business Act, as are such agencies as the Federal Aviation Administration and the CIA.

An amendment to the appropriations bill sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was adopted in the House-Senate conference committee that wrote the final language. It makes TSA accountable to the Small Business Act for purposes of contracting with outside vendors, Kerry’s office said.

“By every account, TSA has abused procurement privileges granted in the aftermath of September 11th,” said Kerry, the ranking Democrat on the Small Business Committee. “As a result, capable qualified small businesses are left out of the federal procurement process.”

SBA guaranteed more than 100,000 loans totaling $19.1 billion under its two primary small business loan programs during fiscal 2006. The agency said both figures are a record.

SBA said one-third of the loans went to minority borrowers, 32% were to new start-up businesses, 22% were to businesses owned by women, and 21% were to businesses located in rural areas.

President Bush signed legislation reorganizing the General Services Administration Oct. 6.

The GSA Modernization Act, H.R. 2066, establishes a Federal Acquisition Service and merges the General Supply Fund and the Information Technology Fund into a new Acquisition Service Fund.

GSA officials have said Administrator Lurita Doan will announce final decisions shortly on how the reorganization will take shape.