Not exactly true. They typically have a goal to award a certain percentage for those programs. It’s not as if every contract is graded by that criteria.

But yes, it can open the door to corruption and inflated costs. For example, a tiny veteran owned corporation may be hired who subcontracts to a massive firm instead of the other way around. The govt would probably be better off just contacting to the large firm directly.

Edit: Sorry, I misread your comment. You are correct.

I fixed it before seeing your comment but shortly after posting, so we probably passed in flight. Likely not your problem!