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NEWSLETTER ISSUE #6

Merchant Ship Collective | The Launch Dock
“Where small businesses learn the truth about power, policy, and opportunities that actually matter.”

How Small Businesses Can Fight Back

Public–Private Partnerships don’t affect all industries equally.
Some sectors absorb the changes quietly. Others are transformed completely.
And in a growing number of fields, PPPs have shifted the center of power so dramatically that small businesses are no longer competing in the same landscape they were just a decade ago.

In this edition of The Launch Dock, we look at which industries have been reshaped the most, what that means for small business owners, and how entrepreneurs can begin reclaiming space in markets increasingly controlled by private partners operating behind public authority.

The Sectors Where PPPs Hit Hardest

PPPs tend to flourish where public systems are stressed, underfunded, or technologically outdated. That makes certain industries especially vulnerable to rapid shifts and long-term corporate consolidation.

Healthcare & Diagnostics

Few sectors changed as dramatically as healthcare during COVID-19. When the system was under pressure, private partners stepped in with labs, logistics, and data infrastructure. National diagnostic firms became the default service providers across entire states. According to the Government Accountability Office, emergency contracting and reduced oversight during the pandemic accelerated consolidation across healthcare platforms (GAO, 2021).

For small clinics, labs, and medical supply companies, the shift wasn’t just financial — it was structural. Once states adopted private testing and reporting systems, those systems became embedded, leaving small providers locked out of the very markets they once sustained.

Education & Instructional Technology

Education technology didn’t gradually expand — it exploded.
With remote learning, schools adopted Big Tech platforms practically overnight. Google, Microsoft, Zoom, and private learning management systems became the infrastructure for student attendance, assignments, communication, and testing.

Local education service providers, tutors, and regional tech companies were not part of these conversations. They simply watched the shift happen. Even after schools reopened, the systems stayed. Private partners now shape how millions of students learn — and how districts purchase their tools. A system once supported by local vendors became concentrated in the hands of national corporations almost instantly.

Food Distribution & Public Supply Chains

PPP influence in food distribution quietly reshaped how communities receive school meals, emergency food boxes, and statewide distribution logistics. When COVID-19 disrupted supply chains, federal and state governments turned to large distributors who could provide scale. Local food suppliers, independent farmers, and small distributors lost contracts they had served for decades.

These losses didn’t occur because small businesses failed — they occurred because emergency contracts changed the rules, and the new systems never shifted back.

Technology, Data & Cyber-security

Every modern public system now rests on a digital backbone, and increasingly, that backbone is owned by private companies contracted through PPPs. Data storage, cyber-security, identity verification, public dashboards, procurement portals, and emergency alerts are all privately controlled.

This is the fastest-growing form of PPP influence: the transformation of public functions into private digital infrastructure. And because these systems are proprietary, small IT businesses cannot easily integrate or compete. When a state adopts a private cyber-security vendor, that’s often the end of the small-business pipeline in that sector for years.

Transportation & Infrastructure Maintenance

Public transportation has long been the home of PPPs, from toll roads to parking systems to bus maintenance. But in recent years, private partners have expanded deeper into operational control. In many municipalities, a single vendor now manages billing, enforcement, maintenance, or fleet tracking.

When this happens, local mechanics, maintenance teams, and service providers lose access to work they once performed — replaced by bundled contracts executed by national operations firms.

The Hidden Pattern: Consolidation Followed by Permanence

Across all these industries, the same sequence appears:

1. A crisis or pressure point allows rapid contracting.

2. A large private vendor steps in with solutions.

3. The vendor installs proprietary systems that become the new standard.

4. The system becomes too embedded to replace.

Even when the crisis ends, the vendor doesn’t leave.
The partnership becomes the infrastructure.

This shift was especially pronounced during COVID-19, but it didn’t start there — and it won’t end there either. PPPs have become the “quiet mergers” that absorb entire sectors without ever acquiring a single business.

What This Means for Small Businesses

When industries consolidate under PPP frameworks, small businesses often face invisible challenges:

• The bidding process moves into proprietary systems.

• Requirements increasingly match the capabilities of large firms.

• Local relationships no longer matter because decisions flow through private channels.

• Algorithms or vendor scoring models determine eligibility.

• Data that once guided public decision-making becomes private property.

The result is that small businesses feel like they’re “doing everything right,” yet opportunities still disappear.

It’s not that they are under-performing.
It’s that the structure itself has changed.

How Small Businesses Can Push Back — Starting Locally

Although PPPs operate at large scales, one of the most effective places for small businesses to regain influence is right at home. Community visibility, public comment, and local advocacy matter more than most entrepreneurs realize.

Small businesses can begin by tracking which private vendors are embedded in their county, school district, or state. Asking officials when emergency contracts expire, attending hearings where renewal votes occur, and participating in procurement workshops can create pressure to unbundle contracts or open bidding in ways that favor local vendors.

No single business can overturn a system — but a coalition of informed businesses can change how a local government thinks about PPP dependency. And that’s where real power begins.

Call to Action

In the next issue of The Launch Dock, we’ll walk through the early warning signs of PPP influence, how to spot consolidation before it happens, and the strategies small businesses can use to stay ahead of market shifts long before contracts disappear.

When you understand the pattern, you can disrupt the pattern.
And that is how small businesses reclaim their place in the economy.

In solidarity,

Lyndsay LaBrier
The Merchant Ship Collective

References

Government Accountability Office. (2021). COVID-19: Emergency contracting and the need for transparency. https://www.gao.gov

United States Department of Health & Human Services. (2022). Public health data infrastructure modernization update. https://www.hhs.gov

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