ICYMI: Graves Investigation Finds Gov't Owes Small Businesses $3 Million
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Washington Post: GSA failed to pay thousands of small government contractors since 2008
By J.D. Harrison
An investigation by House lawmakers has revealed that the U.S. General Services Administration failed to fully pay thousands of federal contractors in the past five years. The Republican-led House Small Business Comittee, which uncovered the oversight, plans to release a full report of its investigation on Thursday but shared preliminary details exclusively to The Washington Post. "Contracting with small businesses is good for the economy and it's good for the taxpayer because small companies bring cost-savings to the federal government," Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said in a statement.
Bloomberg Businessweek: U.S. Owes Small Contractors $3 Million, Says Graves
By Patrick Clark
Contracting with the U.S. government can be a boon to small businesses. Congress tasks the federal agencies with awarding 23 percent of contracts to small firms, and while the government has struggled to meet that goal, small businesses that do win jobs can count on a solid customer.Except when they can't. According to a report today from the House Small Business Committee, the General Services Administration owes more than $3 million in unpaid bills to small contractors.
Gov't Executive: GSA Underpaid Small Business Contractors, House Probe Finds
By Charles S. Clark
The General Services Administration erred in administering its multiple award schedules program and must now pay out $3 million in guaranteed payments to small business contractors, a House committee investigation has found. In a Thursday announcement, Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the Small Business Committee, said a year-long probe of 3,300 federal multiple award schedules contracts canceled between 2008 and 2012 showed that 1,334 vendors were wrongly denied minimum guaranteed payments, 1,281 of them small business suppliers to agencies.
Business Journals: GSA schedule contracts are often a lose for small businesses, Hill investigation finds
By Jill R. Aitoro
An investigation from the House Small Business Committee found what a lot of contractors have said for years: The General Services Administration's Multiple Award Schedule program doesn't always pay off, and can actually leave companies in the hole. "Contracting with small businesses is good for the economy and it's good for the taxpayer because small companies bring cost-savings to the federal government," said committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo. "But when federal agencies don't live up to their end of the bargain, small businesses are discouraged from competing and taxpayers lose the benefits of government efficiency."
RELEASE: Committee Investigation Finds More Than One Thousand Small Business Contractors Weren't Fully Paid
House Small Business Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) today announced that a year-long investigation into a federal contracting program has uncovered that the government owes more than one thousand small businesses millions of dollars.