Why should we give preference to cooperatives at all?
Because they're good
Um, there has to be a reason why the Atlasian Federal Government is going to pick winners. I support cooperatives being able to operate, but I think they should have to compete as any small business.
I think Co-ops like any starting trend, e.g wind farms in the 2000's, tech companies in the 80's need government help to get started. I don't support having 1/3rd of them under federal contracts but I like giving them some governmental support