8(a) small businesses take a tumble

Richard Rea, president of the telecommunications and information technology company R Rea, was one of 197 small-business owners whose companies the General Services Administration delisted in June from a governmentwide acquisition contract for minority-owned small businesses. Like the 196 other companies, R Rea did not reach a mandatory $100,000 sales benchmark during the contract’s three-year base period.

Despite extensive marketing efforts by the companies and GSA, which administers the contract, agencies were slow to use the Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services (STARS) GWAC, leaving many small businesses below the sales threshold and soon without a spot on the contract.

Rea chalked up his loss to agencies’ habit of seeking out larger companies for IT and telecom work and using the same contracts rather than branching out, even if it means getting a better deal. “That’s a mystery to me,” Rea said.

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