When Congress set up the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1953, it declared that small businesses would be awarded at least 23 percent of all federal government prime contracts.

It hasn't been easy going. The usual slowness of government, the red tape and many complex rules make federal contracting challenging at best and impossible at worst.

"I have come to strongly believe that the system is too complex for either federal contracting officers or small businesses to understand," said Angela Styles, the former administrator for federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House and current government contracts group partner at a Washington, D.C. law firm. "Many small businesses give up trying to understand the regulatory complexities or make unintentional errors in application," she added.

At a hearing held last October, the former federal procurement administrator warned of "a series of factors contributing to greater problems and excessive hurdles for small-business contractors."

While federal contracting dollars doubled from approximately $200 billion yearly in 2001 to $400 billion yearly in 2007, small business programs remained difficult to understand and subject to frequent statutory, regulatory and policy changes, Styles said in a statement in front of a House of Representatives Committee on Small Business.

"A lot of complicated rules govern federal contracts, and for a small business owner who's been pursuing private-sector contracts, the prospect of facing the added paperwork and documentation requirements of the federal government is a daunting one," according to Onvia, a provider of comprehensive market intelligence. "The biggest obstacle for many small business owners is simply to overcome that sinking 'where do I even start?' feeling and make a solid beginning. After all, it's hard to improve on a program you haven't even built."

To that end, Styles recommended improvements to the system. As noted by GovPro.com, these recommendations include the following:

• Creating a single automated point of entry for small businesses through the SBA;

• Directly populating the Central Contractor Registration with information from the single automated point of entry, thus reducing the many locations required for businesses to submit information and reducing the chances for error and abuse; and

• Simplifying and automating the decision-making process for contracting officers so that they are able to prioritize and work more effectively.

Styles' aim:

The statutes and regulations should be clear and easy to understand, and the information regarding these programs should be accurate. Everyone benefits when small businesses are allowed to compete.

Some policy experts say an understaffed federal acquisition workforce has exacerbated an already challenging procurement environment. According to a June 2007 report from the OMB, the federal government had approximately 28,000 contracting professionals in the general schedule contracting series (GS-1102), almost 19,000 in the Department of Defense and 9,000 in civilian agencies.

As acquisition workloads have grown larger and more complex, research shows that "agencies must identify crucial skills, recruit and retain employees, and be prepared for change as the nature of acquisition work continues to evolve," we noted around the time of the OMB report's release.

To make matters worse, according to Styles, "contracting officers receive little, if any, training on small business programs."

The SBA has launched the latest addition to its online education library, titled Business Opportunities: A Guide to Winning Federal Contracts. This free online course (registration required) provides an overview of the federal market and takes students through the contracting process from start to finish. It's a self-paced guide that can be studied all at once, or in small chunks over time. Topics include information on federal contract rules, finding federal contract opportunities and key resources in the federal contracting field, according to Onvia.

To some extent, it isn't as if some governmental agencies haven't been trying.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), for instance, lists contact information and lists the steps to success toward becoming a successful contractor on its Web site. Contacts for the vendor support center, a procurement contracting officer, an administrative contracting officer and an industrial operations analyst appear on another Web page.

What do you think? Is federal procurement policy too complex and burdensome for small businesses?

Earlier

So You Want to Be a Government Contractor...

The State of the Federal Contracting Workforce

Resources

Statement of Angela B. Styles, Before the Committee on Small Business
U.S. House of Representatives, Oct. 4, 2007

Is Federal Procurement Policy Too Complex and Burdensome for Small Business?
by Kristen Atwater
GovPro.com, Oct. 5, 2007

The Steps to Success How to Be a Successful Contractor
General Services Administration, Spring 2006

Government Contracting Best Practices Helping You Win More Government Business
Onvia, Aug. 22, 2007