Small business represents 99% of U.S. businesses. Yet their participation as contractors in the defense industrial base has declined by 40% in the past decade. The Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee on Wednesday heard about the reasons for the decline and sought to learn about solutions for reversing the trend. Farooq Mitha, who directs the Defense Department’s Office of Small Business Programs, told subcommittee members that last fiscal year, DOD spent $85.2 billion on so-called “prime contracts” awarded to small...
