In 2007, the Homeland Security Department was one of the few federal agencies to state that they met each of the government's small business contracting goals.
House lawmakers now have suggested those figures may have been boosted by creative double counting, in which small firms that fall into more than one socio-economic category are counted more than once for each contract they were awarded.
"DHS has met each of its federal contracting goals for small, minority, and disadvantaged businesses, but crediting a single procurement action to more than one contracting goal may create a misperception of the participation of small, minority and disadvantaged businesses." according to a report issued by the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee.