Small Business Program and Source Selection Plans Essay

Small Business Program and Source Selection Plans - Essay Example ibed as a privately owned business that is not dominant in its field of operation, and that falls within the definition recognized by the Administrator of Small Business (Compton, 2009). The standards of evaluating the size of the business are determined by the number of workers, mean annual gross income, and relative size of other businesses in the same industry (Keyes & Feldman, 2011). Small business program is used for reviewing the capacity of the small businesses to compete effectively in particular industries. The amendment of Small Business Act in 1978 by the congress provided for the heads of agencies in collaboration with Small Business Administration (SBA) to set-aside the value of the "total contract and subcontracts to be awarded to small businesses every year" (Manuel & Lunder, 2012). In 1988, the congress made further amendment to establish a provision for the establishment of government-wide objectives of awarding proportion of the federal contracts and subcontracts dollars to small businesses in various categories (Cibinic et al., 2006). The provisions require a proportion of equal to or greater than 23% of the government contracts awarded to small business, 5% to business owned by people with disability, 5% to small businesses owned by women, 3% to small businesses owned by service-disabled and 3% to Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) small businesses (Keyes & Feldman, 2011). However, if the total value of the contract is above $2,500 and not exceeding $100,000 the whole contract can be awarded to small businesses that have the capacity to deliver the requirement (Cibinic et al., 2006). Awarding of the contracts to small business by the agencies is of the essence to the government because it depicts the efficiency with which the congressional policy of empowering small business is being implemented (Compton, 2009). However, following the criticism that the government was not achieving its goals of empowering the small businesses