Government Small Business Contracts Are More Important than Ever
The third annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard was released by the SBA last week. The scorecard was launched at the end of fiscal year 2006 in order to provide a concise, transparent evaluation of federal agencies’ performance against their small business contracting goals. These goals are set by the SBA, and while they vary from agency to agency, the overall goal set by law is 23% of federal contracts awarded to small businesses.
Not only did federal agencies miss their small business contracting target again this year, they missed it by an even wider margin than last year: only 21.5% of contracts were awarded to small businesses in FY2008, down from 22% in FY2007. Only one federal agency, the General Services Administration, met small business contracting goals in all 5 categories.
When the SBA first released the scorecard in 2007, I wrote about Small Business Opportunities with the Federal Procurement Scorecard. These tips still hold true today. Targeting agencies that regularly fall short of small business contracting goals is a great way to increase government business. Before you start, make sure to:
- Register your business with the SBA.
- Secure any additional certifications such as Woman-Owned or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business.
- Collect references, and have an up-to-date business plan close at hand.
- Search out the freshest possible contact information for decision makers at your target agency.
Once you’ve found your target agencies and the contact information for relevant buyers and decision makers, you can start marketing your business with the added confidence that the federal agencies you’re targeting have a keen interest in bringing in more small business contractors.
For more tips on selling to the government, read the Government Marketing section.
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Raul Espinosa said,
August 29, 2009 @ 9:53 amThe SBA Third Annual Scorecard is off by at least $3.1B, possibly much more. FPA turned over to the SBA OIG a list showing that 47 multi-billion dollar firms had taken $3.1B. in reserved contracts. That amount reduces the SBA results to 20.7% . Paul Murphy of Eagle Eye, who tracks these figures for Congress and for FPA points out that the Scorecard true number is closer to 19%. What’s worse is the fact that, even at 19%, the record does not take into account billions in fraud and abuse that went uninvestigated and unreported.
The FPA-UNF Umbrella Initiative whose goal is to double the number of minority and women businesses which do business with the government by 2020 has released a list of twelve specific recommendations aimed at leveling the playing field in government contracting:
1. Bring clarity – through legislation - to the statutory small businesses priority over ALL federal programs.
2. Remove the ‘illegal exemptions’ (i.e., GSA and Foreign) from the FAR.
3. Revamp and Strengthen the Size Protest System to make sure it can offer justice.
4. Eradicate the abusive procurement practice referred to as ‘unfair end-user justifications.’
5. Enforce the existing penalties - especially with large fines - for size misrepresentation.
6. Use those large fines - assessed to the violators - to fund a ‘legal center’ in the private sector to protect the statutory rights of small and disadvantaged businesses.
7. Prevent Agencies from taking credit for restricted contracts awarded to LARGE businesses.
8. Investigate and eradicate the fraud and abuse affecting the 23% statutory reservations.
9. Isolate and protect all restricted solicitations as The Umbrella Initiative has cleverly conceived.
10. Fund disparity studies and research to determine the real state of affairs of minorities & women in accessing contract not solely at the Federal level, but at the State and municipal level as well.
11. Rely on existing outreach networks such as the Small Business Development Centers (SDBC) to implement many of the entrepreneurial solutions that have been proposed.
12. Fund efforts which focus on eliminating barriers and opening-up state and local contracting opportunities (besides Federal)
Entrepreneurs, not bureaucrats are the ones who hold the key to the bureaocrats crisis in contracting.
Thank you for the opportunity to make a difference,
Raul Espinosa, Founder
Fairness in Procurement Alliance (FPA)