Women Vendors Get Less Than Price of Drone From U.S. Set-Asides
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A new federal program to help small contractors owned by women is drawing criticism from lawmakers and business advocates who say it has provided too little assistance to too few firms.
After an 11-year delay, the first contracts were awarded under the program in April 2011, according to federal procurement data compiled by Bloomberg. By the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, agencies had doled out $21.1 million in set-asides, less than the cost of one Reaper drone. The contracts equal about 0.1 percent of the amount Lockheed Martin Corp., the No. 1 government contractor, won in federal awards last year in the April-September time period.