D.C. area dominates small biz contracts

Companies within 50 miles of the White House earn nearly $1 of every $3 the federal government awards in small business contracts, ."Geography matters," said Sandy Levine, head of Advice Unlimited, an Olney, Md.-based public relations firm.The AP analyzed 9 million domestic transactions worth nearly $1 trillion handed out from the 2004 through the 2007 budget years. About $212 billion of that went to small businesses, as classified by the General Services Administration ? the agency that maintains most of the government's contract records.Nearly $70 billion of the contract money awarded to small businesses stayed within 50 miles of the White House ? even though those companies account for fewer than 2 of every 100 small firms in the United States and the area encompasses about 0.2 percent of the nation's land area.