More Contracts Awarded to Small Businesses

The SBA (Small Business Administration) just released its 2010 "Goaling Report" and "Agency Scorecards" and was pleased with the results. The report found that the federal government awarded nearly $100 billion in federal contracts to small businesses in fiscal year 2010. Fiscal year 2009 also showed an increase but prior to that, there were four years of decline.

The overall small business contracting goal is 23 percent. The fiscal year 2010 awards totaled 22.7 percent of eligible contracting dollars. Within the overall small business category, there are subcategories for specific segments, including women-owned, small disadvantaged, service disabled veteran owned, and HUBZone. Except for small disadvantaged, the government did not meet its contracting goals for those sub-groups.

Overall, SBA gave the Government a 'B' meaning that it met 90-99 percent of its goal. DoD, which accounted for 60 percent of the dollars, also got a B. Thirteen agencies received 'As' (more than 100% of their goal). Two agencies received 'Ds' (70 to 79 percent of goal).

Over the past year, the SBA has been focused on a number of initiatives to help the government meet the 23 percent goal including;

1. Implementation of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010
2. Interagency Task Force on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses
3. Collaboration with White House and Senior Agency officials
4. Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (set-asides designated specifically for these businesses).
5. Revised the 8(a) Business Development Regulations.