Help for the little guys: Congress' small business advocate has harsh words for DHS.

• Position: SECURITY BEAT: HOMELAND DEFENSE BRIEFS

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* If your small business has a beef with the Department of Homeland Security, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to hear about it.

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In a monthly newsletter that is coyly titled, "Business Opportunities and DHS," Thompson calls out DHS for abusing and mismanaging contracts with small businesses, and encourages readers to report when DHS has treated them unfairly.

"I'm amazed by the level of innovation in small and medium businesses, but they are unsure of how to navigate the minefields of the procurement bureaucracy in the federal government," Thompson told National Defense.

For example, the June edition of the newsletter questioned the department's acquisition methods, calling upon vendors to file protests with the Government Accountability Office. After addressing the readers as "friends," Thompson discusses a court case filed against DHS for poor discretion concerning small, minority-owned businesses. Thompson also provides a link to the report and reminds readers that "an open line of communication in one of the fundamental tenants of true democracy."

"I'd be...