WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- More than $5 billion worth of U.S. government contracts designated for small businesses has gone to enormous companies, The Washington Post reports.
An analysis of $89 billion of federal contracts conducted by the Post indicates 207 contracts worth $143 million went to Lockheed Martin and its subsidiaries. Among others, these contracts were listed as going to a small business to help reach a mandated goal of awarding 25 percent of government work to small companies, the Post said.
Digital Systems Resources, a division of General Dynamics, was awarded $60 million in work that helped fulfill the mandate, with some contracts awarded after agencies were told DSR did not fit the definition of small, the Post said.
Electric Boat, which builds submarines for the Defense Department, was labeled small for some contracts, the Post reported.
"Are there lots of errors in the data? We have to say yes," Calvin Jenkins, deputy associate administrator for government contracting at the Small Business Administration said.
"But is it getting more accurate? Absolutely, it is. We rely to some extent on the public to help us fix some of these obvious errors," he said.
