Wants to know if program is actually providing opportunities for small businesses

This week Congresswoman Chellie Pingree sent a letter asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate whether a Department of Defense program is meeting its stated goals of creating subcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

“What concerns me is that this test program has been running for 20 years without ever being evaluated,” said Pingree. “We need to find out whether small businesses are getting the opportunities this program was meant to provide. It’s an important issue to the many small companies here in Maine that provide services and products for large defense contractors. They deserve to know if they’re getting a fair shake.”

Established in 1990, the Comprehensive Subcontracting Plan Test Program offers certain incentives to 14 of the country’s largest Defense contractors—such as fewer reporting requirements—to determine whether those steps result in an increase of subcontracting opportunities for small businesses.

The letter, which was also signed by four other members of Congress, said federal data calls into question whether the participating contractors are meeting their small-business contracting goals. The program has been reauthorized three times since, but has never been evaluated to see if it is working as intended.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our nation’s economy,” Pingree said in the letter. “Congress must ensure that federal small-business contracting programs are functioning properly to provide maximum opportunities to our small businesses.”