Government Operations: An Improved Automated System Would Better Identify Small Businesses Seeking Federal Contracting Opportunities

Citation
General Accounting Office, Government Operations: An Improved Automated System Would Better Identify Small Businesses Seeking Federal Contracting Opportunities (IMTEC-84-3; B-206599) (Jan. 12, 1984) (full-text).

Overview
Pursuant to a congressional request, the GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Procurement Automated Source System (PASS), which provides federal agencies with information concerning small businesses competing for government contracts, to evaluate: (1) how well the system is functioning; (2) how much federal agencies and contractors use it to foster small business procurement opportunities; (3) the accuracy, relevancy, and timeliness of the system's information; and (4) what plans SBA has for the future of the system.

The GAO found that: (1) the system is being used by a variety of agencies and prime contractors to obtain information concerning small businesses competing for federal contracts; (2) information generated by the system is often outdated and incomplete; (3) the system has operational problems, resulting in part from inefficient software; and (4) the SBA decision to correct the problems by redesigning the system has raised concerns that such action might be premature.