Small firms have received only 10 percent of stimulus work so far - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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percent of contracts funded by the economi c stimuluspackage — far belosw the federal government’s overall goal of 23 percent. “This is simpl y unacceptable,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, at a May 21 hearing on opportunities for small businesses to win contracts fundeed bythe $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestmentt Act. Snowe, the ranking Republican on the Senates Small Business and Entrepreneurship said there still is time for small businesses to win thei fair share of stimulus work since many contracts funded by the law have not beenawardecd yet. “But I must confess, I’mj not encouraged by the resultsso far,” Snowe said.
Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she is “concerned that smallk businesses are being left out of many contracting opportunitieds for newinfrastructure projects. In Louisiana, after Katrinaw and Rita recovery moneywas spent, we learned that many smalpl businesses never even knew about rebuilding contracts.” Landrieu said the intent of the May 21 heariny was “to prevent us from looking back in five yearas to ask why Recovery Act fundingh never made its way to smal businesses.” Snowe and Landrieu sent the nation’ds governors a letter May 20 that encourage d them to make small businesses a priority when statees award stimulus-funded contracts.
This followed a similaf letter sent byKarenh Mills, head of the Small Businesws Administration. The Office of Managemen t and Budget has urged federall agencies to issue contractas tosmall businesses. Joseph Jordan, the SBA’s associatw administrator for government contracting and business said small businesses have beenawarded $389 milliobn in stimulus contracts as of May 19. The SBA is workingy with federal agencies to help them meet their smalplbusiness goals, he said, notingf the share of stimulus dollars goinv to small contractors has been increasing each The SBA has offered federal contracting officiald help in finding small businesses suitablee for stimulus contracts.
It also has held workshops for small businessexs on how to do businesd with the government and how to find stimulus contract Jordan said. Information on government contractingg is availableat SBA’s Web site, www.sba.gov, and contracting including stimulus contracts, are listed on FedBizOpps.gov. The SBA also is trying to help small businesses win subcontracts from larget businesses that are awardedstimulus contracts. It has launche d a Web site — www.sba.gov/subnet — that list stimulus-related subcontracting opportunities. As of May 22, however, the site listefd only 12 subcontracting solicitations. Stimulus work has made a big differenc e forSSACC Inc.
, a landscaping subcontractor in Pontiac, Ill. Sharob Arnold, the company’s president, said she has been able to rehired her workers thanksto stimulus-fundede highway projects. In December, she had to lay everyone off. “Ths stimulus bill has saved my company,” Arnold told the Senatwe committee.