Billions In Taxpayer Dollars Set Aside For Small Businesses Are Flowing To Big Tech

Amazon AWS

Amazon offices in New York. Mark Lennihan/AP Photo

The first thing Joel Lipkin, the chief operating officer of Four Points Technology, often says about his company is that it is a veteran-owned small business. That designation has opened doors to billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government.

It’s money federal agencies have set aside to level the playing field between the nation’s biggest corporate giants and historically disadvantaged business owners — like women, people of color and veterans. But make no mistake: For the Chantilly, Virginia-based Four Points Technology and many others like it, Big Tech is not a competitor. Big Tech is a cash cow.

Four Points Technology resells products from Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing arm; since 2008, the government has routed about $5 billion through Four Points, largely for products and services from tech giants, including Amazon. In 2022, the Department of Veterans Affairs bought nearly $200 million in Amazon Web Services capacity through Four Points. In 2021, the Department of Homeland Security needed the same and awarded Four Points as much as $31 million for “minimal” services such as managing billing. The Department of Labor made an agreement with Four Points worth up to $35 million. “Only resale service required,” the agency said in its agreement.