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In FY 2012, the federal government made real progress toward delivering 23 percent of eligible federal contracting dollars to small businesses, with 22.25 percent going to small businesses compared to 21.65 percent in FY 2011. We also made significant impact in several key areas of small business contracting, including exceeding the goal for service disabled veterans for the first time and delivering the highest percentage of contracts to small disadvantaged businesses to date. In addition, more agencies than ever before reached or surpassed all of their prime contracting goals.
As a result of a government wide focus on increasing small business contracting opportunities, during the first term of the Obama administration, $376.2 billion in contracting dollars went to small businesses. This is a $48.1 billion increase over the four preceding years even as we have reduced contracting spending overall.
Federal contracting with small businesses remains a win-win. Small businesses get the revenue they need to grow their revenues and create jobs. Meanwhile, the federal government gets the chance to work with some of the most responsive, innovative and nimble companies in the U.S. —often with a direct line to their CEO.
SBA is required to report to the President and Congress on achievements by federal agencies and departments against their annual procurement goals to ensure greater accountability. The Small Business Procurement Scorecard provides an assessment of federal achievement in prime contracting and subcontracting to small businesses by the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies. It also measures progress that departments are making to ensure small business opportunities remain an integral part of their acquisition of goods and services to meet mission objectives. The FY 2012 Small Business Procurement Scorecard is now available on sba.gov.
The SBA continues to focus on a number of initiatives to help the government meet the 23 percent goal, ensure the accuracy of data, and prevent fraud, waste and abuse, including:
Significantly improving the quality of small business procurement data;Collaborating with White House and Administration Senior Officials to help ensure top-level leadership commitment from across the federal government to utilize small businesses;Training prospective and existing small businesses to acquire the confidence and skills needed to successfully compete for and win federal contracts through GC Classroom;Strengthening, building capacity and increasing opportunities in America's supply chains for small businesses through the American Supplier Initiative (ASI); andConducting outreach and matchmaking events across the country to ensure that small businesses everywhere have direct access to federal buyers.In particular, SBA recently launched a strategic HUBZone and 8(a) Business Development Program Recruitment Initiative to recruit new firms into both programs that better meet the needs of the federal procurement marketplace. SBA also recently joined with Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and American Express OPEN to launch the ChallengeHER initiative, to inform Woman-Owned Small Businesses about the opportunities available within the federal supply chain.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. SBA and the Obama Administration will continue to provide small business owners the necessary tools to ensure they have the wind at their back, enabling them to grow and create jobs.
For more information about the Small Business Procurement Scorecard, visit SBA.gov.
John Shoraka is the Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Tags: Official SBA News and Views, Open For Business, Government Contracting