Small Business: SBA may have overstated percentage of federal contracts going to small businesses

According to some independent experts, The Small Business Administration, may have overstated the percentage of federal contracts going to small businesses in a recently released report.

FCW.Com reports that the SBA report states that small businesses were awarded $69.23 billion worth of prime federal contracts in fiscal 2004, just over the minimum 23 percent statutory requirement.

However, the figures exclude numerous agency procurements, including contracts performed outside the United States and those funded by agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.

Paul Murphy, president of Eagle Eye Publishers said: "If you included the money that's excluded right now, the percentage would go down a couple points."