At the request of several Members of Congress concerned about the fate of America’s small manufacturers, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a detailed summary of all Federal programs that provide support to small manufacturers. The survey results are quite interesting. Overall, GAO identified 254 Federal programs that provide support to the business sector. Within this group, twenty programs provide support to manufacturers, and five are targeted especially to small firms. While GAO could not obtain data on spending in all twenty of these programs, its analysts estimate that Washington spent a total of roughly $35 million (over three years) to support anywhere from 8,000 to 9,000 small manufacturing firms per year. Very few of the Federal programs provide direct financial assistance; most focus on providing technical support and other types of assistance. At first glance, it may appear that, with only five targeted programs, small manufacturers have very few options for Federal support. However, as GAO notes, small manufacturers are more likely to obtain support from general business support initiatives as opposed to programs that are targeted only to their specific niche.
Access the May 2007 Government Accountability Office report here
This story © 2007 The Public Forum Institute and the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship.
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