The Washington Post’s Carol D. Leonnig reports that federal agencies have combined to give about $5 billion in government contracts set aside for small businesses to actually very, very big businesses. Corporate giants like Lockheed Martin and SAIC are getting million in contracts from agencies like the Dept. of Homeland Security (the worst offender) and the Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs. The meaning of "small business" is not clear, but the Small Business Administration defines it as either below a certain number of employees (like 500) or annual revenue ($17 million).

The Small Business Administration, the agency in charge of deciding whether a business is small, disputes the Post’s figures and promises to release their own report today. According to the Post, companies like Lockheed are successfully listing subsidaries as stand-alone companies.-MB

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