Senate Inquiry Finds Big Companies Taking Small Business Contracts

Federal contracts intended for small business are being awarded to large corporations, according to a Senate inquiry.

They are being counted toward the congressionally mandated goal of ensuring that 23 percent of all federal contracts go to small businesses, the inquiry found.

"A system that should be helping small business is in fact doing little more than helping the government play a numbers game," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs contracting oversight subcommittee.

"This is a time for all of us to take a hard look at the way the government does business," she said.