To the Members of the United States Congress:
For over 80 years, the federal government has made it a priority to ensure that America’s small businesses receive a fair proportion of federal contracts.
Last year, there were at least 65,500 small business contractors located in all 50 states who received over $155 billion in payment for goods and services provided to the federal government. This includes everything from supplying high-tech machinery and specialized services to general office supplies and landscaping.
For many of these small businesses, federal contracts represent a sizable portion of their overall revenue. Navigating federal contracting rules can be complicated, but once done, a federal contract can be a reliable source of revenue. That is until there is a government shutdown.
Contracts funded with lapsed discretionary appropriations can immediately come to a halt. When the government reopens, rarely are contractors made whole. The purchase of many goods may only be delayed by a government shutdown, though some are permanently forgone. While historically even furloughed federal employees have received back pay when the government reopens, that is not the case for federal contractors who are providing services to the government. This means the longer the government shutdown, the deeper the hit on small business contractors.
To better understand the scale and scope of the impact of the government shutdown on small business contractors, the Chamber utilized data from Bloomberg Government to analyze the number of small business contractors by state and to approximate the monthly and weekly value of their contracts. Our analysis shows the 65,500 small business contractors in the United States have nearly $3 billion a week at risk, with $12 billion just in the month of October alone. Businesses in every state in the union have tens of millions, and in some cases, billions of dollars at risk. And that is if the shutdown ended today. The attached table details our findings.
For example:
· There are 1,037 small businesses in Alabama who provide goods and services to the federal government. Every week that the federal government is shut down puts approximately $104 million in payments to these Alabama businesses at risk. Shutting down the government for the month of October has put $450 million at risk for Alabama small business contractors.
The Chamber is again calling on Congress to immediately pass the continuing resolution to reopen and fund the government. We also urge Congress to consider ways to help make federal contractors, especially small business contractors, whole.
Sincerely,
Neil L. Bradley
Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer,
and Head of Strategic Advocacy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
