It pays to have friends in high places. President Barack Obama is working to expand small business access to large federal government contracts, including business owned by minorities, women, veterans and those from historically underserved communities.
Obama has established the Interagency Task Force on Federal contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses and the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development in order to gauge the level of federal contracting with small businesses and to develop ways to increase minority participation in opportunities for federal contracts, the White House states.
“Small businesses are a critical part of our economic engine, and including them as full partners in government contracting and procurement remains vital to our continued recovery and efforts to create jobs and expand economic opportunities,” Obama said in a statement. “With the federal government operating as the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, with annual purchases totaling more than $500 billion per year, small businesses must have a fair opportunity to participate in the federal contracting process.”
Established by Presidential Memorandum, the Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses is mandated to take multiple steps to increase transparency when it comes to federal contracting data. It also requires the task force to expand outreach to small businesses, with a special emphasis on minority, women and socially and economically disadvantage individuals. The task force will be co-chaired by Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary Gary Locke of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Administrator Karen Mills of the U.S. Small Business Administration. –terry shropshire
