Small Business Program: Effort to Increase Participation in State DepartmentContracts

摘要

State Department data for fiscal years 1990 and 1991 show that the Department metor exceeded most of its goals for awarding contracts to small, small disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses (see app. I). According to State Department officials, the majority of these contracts were awarded to businesses located in the Washington, D.C., area. The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, a small office with three staff and modest resources, has a limited capacity to promote the small business program. The office uses manual files to record the capabilities of target businesses and has difficulty responding quickly to questions posed by the Department's procurement units about these firms. The office has limited interaction and lacks formal linkages with units that award contracts The office has done little to promote target business participation in overseas procurements, which may account for about half ($500 million) of the Department's contracting opportunities. The office does not review contracts awarded by posts overseas to determine if they could be awarded to target businesses. On the basis of 1980 policy guidance from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Department believed there was no legal requirement for the participation of target businesses in overseas procurements. Therefore, the office has excluded overseas contracts from departmental goals for participation by target businesses. (KAR).