Pigs at the Trough?

IAL Services has been diligently working for the past nine months to establish a Federal presence in the translation and interpretation market.  The process is very time consuming and detailed and it was something that I had put off in the past simply because it seemed overwhelming.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of assistance that we have received from agencies such as the Small Business Administration (SBA) as well as our local General Services Administration (GSA) office.  They have provided us guidance in our initial certification as a HUBZone entity and are actively helping us complete the paperwork to get on the GSA schedule.  It's a lot of work and a relatively long process but, so far, they have been patient and responsive to our questions.  Obviously this was not my initial impression of how things would go. 

During this entire process we have talked with numerous friends and contacts both in the Federal sector as well as others who also provide services to them.  While I've learned a lot about how the government works I've also learned a lot about how small businesses, such as IAL, respond to those needs.  My biggest disappointment, however, has not been with how the government works but the perception many agencies and corporations have toward the utilization of Small Business enterprises.

As you may or may not know, the Federal government is required by law to allocate a certain percentage of their purchases from Small Business entities including minority owned, woman owned, service disabled veteran owned and, like us, HUBZone enterprises.  In addition, large corporations who are awarded federal contracts are sometimes required to utilize a Small Business as part of the agreement when the dollar value exceeds a certain threshold.  Herein lies my disappointment.  We have consistently heard from close friends and contacts that work for these larger companies that, while it's necessary and required, they dread the involvement of their Small Business partners.  The reason is not because they are adverse to sharing revenue but because, for many small businesses, it has become more of an entitlement program than a true partnership.  We've heard horror stories about some of these companies who simply show up but add nothing of value to the project.  In fact on several occasions we've been told that the larger organizations simply "pay off" the small contractor to meet the need of the contract allocation and get them out of the process.  In short, they add more problems than they resolve. The perception, right or wrong, is that many of the Small Businesses know that these larger organizations  have  to use them so the motivation is less than desirable when it comes to bringing true value to the project.

I'm not sure how common this problem is but I find it troubling.  While I'm obviously very happy that federal regulations may even the playing field somewhat for Small Business, I'm not comfortable with the fact that some of our counterparts have apparently found a loophole in meeting required performance expectations.  Just as we expect great things from our government I think those same standards, perhaps higher, should apply to the private sector companies regardless of their small business status. You wouldn't survive in the commercial sector so I'm not sure why you should be rewarded in the federal.  Perhaps I'm naive.

Regardless, I've learned a lot - good and bad - about how our government works.  It's fascinating, complicated, bureaucratic, political, frustrating, time consuming and fun.  Hopefully, at least in the arena of document translation and interpretation, we can stand out from the crowd.  We do it in the private sector every day and look forward as we dip our toe in the federal pool.