Small Business

Low Participation in Set-Aside Program Expected for Sheltered Workshops Gao ID: RCED-90-192 August 6, 1990

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the impact of allowing sheltered workshops to compete for small business set-aside contracts.

GAO found that: (1) data on sheltered workshops' participation in the set-aside program in fiscal year (FY) 1989 were not available; (2) the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) received agencies' computer data, including information on set-aside contracts awarded to sheltered workshops in FY 1990; (3) federal agency officials said that they could not determine the level of sheltered workshops' participation in the small business set-aside program because federal data were not available; (4) officials from organizations that represented sheltered workshops said that workshops' participation was minimal; (5) sheltered workshop officials believe that the program's authorizing legislation is a major factor contributing to the low participation levels; and (6) federal agency officials responsible for monitoring the small business set-aside program said many sheltered workshops did not know they were eligible to participate.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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