As the Biden administration pushes major spending, small businesses fear "missing out"

After a decade of  federal contracts, small business owner Rosemary Swierk knows they're not all worth the substantial time, energy and money — sometimes five figures — it takes to bid.

"There are certain projects that we know: It's just not worth it," Swierk said. "There's a lot of ways that the federal government has unintentionally handicapped small businesses." Her company, Direct Steel and Construction, got its foot in the door with federal contract work roughly a decade ago during the last recession as a subcontractor after she reached out to an entire list of 660 Department of Defense contractors.