The U.S. Small Business Administration is trying to help small businesses score government contracts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 via a new online training course designed to provide insight into the government contracting process. While helpful, the training course fails to disclose some important risks that small businesses need to know about when working on government contracts, says Marshall Doke Jr., head of the Government Contracts practice at Gardere Wynne Swell LLP. For example, the training course does not detail how these contracts include certain unallowable costs and unique accounting rules, as well as special rules for purchasing, estimating, quality controls and socio-economic policies. These rules essentially provide a mandate for how the business must be run. "Some basic rules of commercial business are not applicable to government contracts," Doke says. "The contracts all favor the government, including criminal and civil laws, dispute resolution, and voluminous contract clauses. It is a good business if you know the rules, but it is dangerous if you do not." To interview Mr. Doke, contact Rhonda Reddick at 800-559-4534 or rhonda@androvett.com.