INDIANA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)’s release of the Fiscal Year 2021 Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard shows a record-breaking 26.5% of federal contracting dollars – $154.2 billion – awarded to small businesses; an $8 billion increase over the previous fiscal year.
Combined with $72 billion in subprime contracting goals, this historic spend has supported over one million jobs in the American economy.
Of the $5.5 billion in federal contracts awarded to all Indiana businesses, 14.9% of the awarded dollars went to Indiana small businesses for a total of $825 million.
“The Biden-Harris Administration set historic records in small business contracting which has advanced competition, strengthened local economies, and supported job growth across the nation,” said SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. “By expanding small business opportunities and building equity in federal procurement, we have helped to ensure that federal agencies can fully leverage the extraordinary talent and innovation delivered by our nation’s entrepreneurs.”
“The SBA has worked closely with the White House and our partner agencies to enact policy changes that level the playing field for all contracting entrepreneurs through a more equitable federal procurement system and buying strategy promised in the President’s Build Back Better Plan,” said SBA Great Lakes Regional Administrator Geri Aglipay. “I’m proud of the hard work our small business advocates across the federal government and our SBA partner organizations have done to reach these results.”
The value of federal contracting is illustrated by Professional Management Enterprise (PME), a black-owned SDVOSB headquartered in Indianapolis. PME currently has 25 offices throughout the nation and employs over 280 people. President & CEO Danny Portee participated in one of SBA’s premier contracting programs, the SBA 8(a) Business Development Program, and leveraged his 8(a) certification earning over $42.5 million in 8(a) set-asides, sole contracts, and joint ventures. After graduating from the program, PME continued maximizing its contracts with federal agencies and applied what it learned to diversify its portfolio securing $9.2 million in the new private sector, city, and state contracts in 2021. As a result of their work with the U.S. government, PME has continued to grow, allowing Portee to open a second company, Indianapolis-based WellTrans which offers transportation and healthcare advocacy services to Medicaid members, Veterans, and those in need.
“Government contracting is a great way for Indiana entrepreneurs to open new revenue streams for their small businesses,” said SBA Indiana District Director Stacey Poynter. The $825 million Indiana small businesses secured represents an incredible impact on our economy. SBA resources like the 8(a) Business Development Program are vital to companies like PME and others to create new jobs, build stronger communities, and improve the quality of life of all who live in Indiana.”
SBA sets contracting goals for each agency and works with government buyers to ensure that they prioritize small businesses. Overall, the federal government exceeded its goal of 23 percent in prime contract dollars and earned an “A” on this year’s government-wide Scorecard. Eleven federal agencies earned an “A+” for their agencies’ achievements in small business contracting, and an additional ten agencies received an “A” grade. Individual agency scorecards and a detailed explanation of the methodology used is available at SBA.gov.
In its efforts to help small businesses secure federal contracts, the SBA promotes its programs to procuring federal agencies and small businesses, frequently holding training sessions across the country to educate contracting officers on the requirements for SBA’s 8(a) Business Development, Historically Underutilized Business Zone, women-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small business programs. It also works closely with other national and local organizations on contracting outreach. For more information on SBA Federal Contracting programs and assistance, check out the federal contracting section of the SBA website at Small Business Administration (sba.gov).
Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard Overview:
The annual Procurement Scorecard is an assessment tool to measure how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals. The Scorecard also provides accurate and transparent contracting data and reports agency-specific progress. The prime and subcontracting component goals include goals for small businesses, WOSBs, SDBs, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and small businesses located in HUBZones.
Every year, the SBA works with agencies to set their individual prime and subcontracting goals. The SBA ensures that, in the aggregate, the federal government meets or exceeds the government-wide statutory goals mandated in 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act in each category. While each federal agency ensures the quality of its own contracting data, SBA conducts additional analyses to help identify potential data anomalies and with federal agency procurement staff to provide analysis and tools to facilitate a review of data, implement improvements to procurement systems, and conduct training to improve accuracy.
