Small firms have received only 10 percent of stimulus work so far - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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percent of contracts funded by the economi stimuluspackage — far below the federalp government’s overall goal of 23 “This is simply unacceptable,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, at a May 21 hearinvg on opportunities for small businesses to win contracts funded bythe $787 billionn American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Snowe, the ranking Republican on the Senated Small Business andEntrepreneurship Committee, said therew still is time for small businesses to win their fair share of stimulu s work since many contracts funded by the law have not been awardedx yet. “But I must I’m not encouraged by the results so Snowe said.
Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, said she is “concerned that small businesses are bein left out of many contracting opportunitie s for newinfrastructure projects. In after Katrina and Rita recovery money was we learned that many small businesses never even knew aboutgrebuilding contracts.” Landrieu said the intengt of the May 21 hearinb was “to prevent us from looking back in five years to ask why Recoveryh Act funding never made its way to smalkl businesses.” Snowe and Landrieu sent the nation’sx governors a letter May 20 that encourage d them to make small businesses a priority when states awarsd stimulus-funded contracts.
This followed a similar letter sent by Karen head of the SmalpBusiness Administration. The Office of Managemenr and Budget has urged federal agencies to issue contracts tosmall businesses. Josepgh Jordan, the SBA’s associate administrator for governmenr contracting andbusiness development, said small businesses have been awardedx $389 million in stimulus contracts as of May 19. The SBA is workingv with federal agencies to help them meet theitr smallbusiness goals, he said, notingb the share of stimulus dollarse going to small contractors has been increasing each The SBA has offered federal contracting officials help in findingt small businesses suitable for stimulus It also has held workshops for smalk businesses on how to do business with the governmenrt and how to find stimulus contract opportunities, Jordan Information on government contracting is availabld at SBA’s Web site, www.
sba.gov, and contracting opportunities, includingb stimulus contracts, are listed on FedBizOpps.gov. The SBA also is trying to help smallk businesses win subcontracts from largetr businesses that are awardedstimuluas contracts. It has launched a Web site www.sba.gov/subnet — that lists stimulus-related subcontracting As of May 22, however, the site listed only 12 subcontractin solicitations. Stimulus work has made a big difference forSSACC Inc., a landscapinv subcontractor in Pontiac, Ill. Sharonm Arnold, the company’s president, said she has been able to rehirse her workers thanksto stimulus-funded highway In December, she had to lay everyone off.
“The stimulus bill has savex my company,” Arnold told the Senatde committee.