Department of Energy Falsified Data

Business Wire reports that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that inaccurate reporting by the Department of Energy (DOE) has covered up the DOE's failure to meet its small business subcontracting goals.

"Misleading data has created the false impression that DOE is meeting its small business subcontracting goals, undermined DOE's oversight of subcontracting efforts, and generated mistrust among members of the small business community," the report states.

In 2004, the SBA required the DOE to award 50 percent of its total subcontracting dollars to small businesses. The GAO report states, "Because about 85 percent of DOE's funding currently goes to its facility management contractors, none of which are small businesses, the small business subcontracting efforts of those facility management contractors are of even greater importance to DOE."

"Last March, SBA administrator Hector Barreto issued a press release claiming that the government had reached a 25 percent small business contracting goal. He called it a 'tremendous victory for America's small business owners.' This latest GAO report is the sixth government investigation that proves those numbers were dramatically inflated.