Book excerpt: Each year, the government obligates billions in contracts to businesses, nearly $537 billion in fiscal year 2011. About $104 billion (19.4 percent) was obligated to small businesses that identified themselves as minority-owned. In this book, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes what federal agency officials and advocacy groups identified as challenges small, minority-owned businesses may face in seeking federal government contracts, including and linguistic or cultural barriers, and agencies efforts to address them; and what information is available on federal efforts to assist small, minority-owned businesses in contracting with the federal government.