Small-biz figures skewed

About $2 billion in federal contracts were miscoded as going to small rather than large businesses in fiscal 2002, distorting procurement statistics, according to a new report by the Small Business Administration's advocacy office.

The study, completed by Eagle Eye Publishers Inc. of Fairfax, Va., found that 44 of the top 1,000 small-business contractors with contracts totaling $2 billion in 2002 were miscoded as small businesses.

Among those companies were 39 large companies and five contractors classified as "other" entities, including non-profit and government organizations.

If these awards had been coded as going to large businesses or other entities, the share for small-business procurements for 2002 would have been lowered from 20.5 percent to 19.7 percent, the report said.