The Small Business in the Federal Marketplace - a Study of Barriers
研究了小企业参与美国政府商品和服务销售时面临的障碍，包括复杂法规、文书工作、信息获取困难等，并调查了大小企业在联邦与私营部门工作中的感知差异。
The purpose of this note is to describe a study of problems and barriers to small business participation in the sale of goods and services to the U.S. government. A literature review suggests the existence of multiple serious barriers to small business participation in this important market. These include complicated federal procurement regulations, excessive paperwork resulting from these regulations, difficulty in obtaining access to information, short turnaround time for bids, unclear or excessively complicated specifications, and problems stemming from the prospective contractor's resource and/or cash flow limitations. Costs and other barriers associated with federal procurement tend to weigh more heavily on small contracts and small contractors, if, as suspected, the cost of compliance with associated regulations and paperwork requirements remains constant (or nearly so) with the size of a procurement. These potential problems provided the incentive for the survey of barriers to small business participation in federal procurement described in this note. Method A mail questionnaire consisting of eleven items, with telephone follow-up interviews for clarification, served as the foundation for this study. The questionnaire was intended to identify perceived barriers of small business operators to business participation in the federal marketplace by addressing two principal questions: 1. Do small and large businesses differ in perceived barriers, complaints, and unnecessary costs in federal versus private sector work? (If there are differences, what are these?) 2. Do small and large businesses differ in reports of perceived cost and profit advantages of federal versus private sector work? (What differences, if any, exist between the two size categories of firms in this respect?) All of the businesses surveyed had successfully secured federal contracts, and had conducted business with both the federal government and private sector. The Federal Procurement Data Center (FPDC) designation was used to identify firms as either small or large. Five hundred seventy (570) firms were contacted in the spring of 1985. Of these, 206 responded, an overall response rate of 36 percent. Forty percent of all small firms and 26 percent of all large firms responded. Findings The study first identified problems in doing work for the federal government, as compared to the private sector. Respondents were asked their views on the major barriers encountered in obtaining federal and private work, including their principal complaints in doing business, and unnecessary costs experienced in conducting work with both sectors. The barrier most frequently reported by small firms for both federal and private sector business was learning about upcoming solicitations (see table 1). A lack of information and exposure by a firm to a potential market is a serious barrier, and for a small start-up firm, it may pose an insurmountable problem. Costs The high cost of preparing bids or proposals was reported as the most important barrier to seeking federal business for large firms and the second most important barrier for small firms. Proposals are usually less elaborate in the case of private sector business, hence proposal-writing is not viewed as a major problem for firms doing business in this sector. Conversely, marketing and sales are seen as major problem areas in seeking private sector business, but as less important ones in seeking government contracts. Despite this apparent tradeoff, small firms, in particular, are much more likely to find it necessary to seek the often costly assistance of outside consultants in competing for federal business. Another barrier to competing successfully in the federal sector is the existence of competition, especially price competition. A special problem in this connection is the occasional occurrence of buy-ins, in which a firm attempts to gain entrance to the federal market by submitting an extremely low bid, forcing out more realistic, cost-based bids. …