In June 2006, the Small Business Administration announced that, in 2005, small businesses received a "record-breaking $79.9 billion in federal prime contracts," epresenting an increase of $10 billion over 2004. Though the list of small-business contract recipients is not publicly available, private research suggests that not all small-business contracts go to actual small businesses. A list of top smallbusiness contract recipients for 2005 compiled by Eagle Eye Publishers Inc. of Fairfax, Va. includes large corporations such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Science Applications International Corp., Boeing and L-3 Communications.

Though SBA size standards mandate that a firm must have fewer than 500 workers to qualify as a small business (see 13 CFR § 121 et seq.), the top three companies on Eagle Eye's list are Apptis Inc., an information technology firm with 1,600 employees; SAIC, which claims to have 43,000 employees worldwide; and GTSI, an IT firm with 850 workers. In fact, the SBA inspector general lists the problem of large fi rms receiving small-business set-asides as the agency's top challenge for Fiscal Year
2006. "As the advocate for small business, the Small Business Administration should strive to ensure that only small firms obtain small business awards and agencies only receive small business credit for awards to small firms," the IG said.