GAO: Small Businesses Lose Out on Deals (defense contracts)

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Small businesses lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in Energy Department contracts each year because the government often gives no-bid work to large firms on flimsy grounds, congressional auditors say.

A report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Thursday, looks at small business contracting practices at the department, whose $22.8 billion in annual awards for research, nuclear weapons maintenance and environmental cleanup make it the largest civilian contracting agency.

The report says the agency failed to meet small business contracting goals of 5.5 percent or lower in four of the last five years due to lack of controls, poor planning and questionable assumptions that smaller firms couldn't handle the jobs.

The Energy Department "is clearly constrained by the department's traditional reliance on a limited group of large firms and universities to manage high-cost projects in which public safety and national security are important concerns," says the 39-page report, scheduled to be released next month.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/invest-corp/2006/mar/30/033003815.html