READERSFORUM.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

More Small Business Woes

The subjects of "Small Business Woes" and "The Function of Government" (Readers Forum, May 2000, p.8) are thought provoking.

Working for a small business that provides services to government and commercial customers for 22 years, has provided me the opportunity to observe the continually evolving relationship between government and industry.

I am looking for answers to the following questions:

How did U. S. Army acquisition logistics procurements that had been historically SIC code 8711--small business size $20 million (possibly 250 or so people in the technical services field) until about 1995--migrate to a SIC code 8731 small business size of under 1,000 people? Is an approximately $100 million revenue-a-year company really a small business? It has been explained to me by Army procurement personnel that all of the previous procurements had been mis-classified.

Was someone asleep at the wheel? Or was this change designed to make it easier to make more small business awards and help contracting activities meet their small/disadvantaged business award goals? Why are the Navy and Air Force still procuring acquisition logistics services using SIC code 8711?

Might there be a valid reason why "omnibus" and "consolidation" are words of concern primarily to small businesses? I am constantly meeting other small/small disadvantaged business owners/employees who were told to "pound sand" when attempting to join or form teams for recent naval aviation logistics procurements. A common theme is that each company is a 'niche player' specializing in either a given weapon system or a very few systems. Small businesses rarely are the only company working in a given area, so it is easy for the large businesses to ignore us. Seventeen companies (plus or minus) perform half a billion dollars worth of support contractor logistics work annually for the Navy. A minimum of six to seven dozen companies have performed pieces of this work previously. Does this appear to be supporting small/small-disadvantaged businesses?

Why, in these days of electronic billing and payments, can a business get payment for services in 1-6 days from one government agency customer, and it take 45-60 days for another? Especially when both receive properly completed and submitted billing vouchers? When the government does not meet a self-legislated obligation to pay within 30 days, why it does not pay interest until challenged and then only grudgingly?

Does anyone...