SBA Releases FY2015 Small Business Procurement Scorecard Marking Federal Agencies' Contracting Achievements

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Small Business Administration today released its annual Small Business Procurement Scorecards, which provide an assessment of each federal agency's annual small business contracting achievement against its goal using a grade of A⁺ through F.  The federal government received an "A" on the government-wide scorecard for 2015, reflecting significant efforts by federal agencies toward meeting their 23 percent statutory goal. 

The federal government also reached its small business federal contracting goal for the third consecutive year, awarding 25.75 percent in federal contracts to small businesses totaling $90.7 billion. The 25.75 percent of contracts awarded to small businesses represent the highest ever percentage of contracts awarded to small businesses by the federal government.

"I'm very happy to report that the federal government exceeded our 23 percent small business prime contracting goal for the third year in a row, with the federal government receiving an "A" for its contracting achievements. These accomplishments wouldn't be possible without the help of the agency Office Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) directors and senior leaders throughout the federal government," said John Shoraka, Associate Administrator for Government Contracting and Business Development.  "This year's scorecard also includes several historic firsts. For the first time in history, the U.S. government met its Congressionally-mandated goal of awarding 5 percent of eligible federal contracts to women-owned small businesses. Thanks to the President's continued leadership and a team effort among all federal agencies, we were able to break records and expand contracting opportunities for women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned and small disadvantaged businesses.

"Next week kicks off National Small Business Week. When federal agencies, which together make up the largest consumer of goods and services in the world, commit to shopping small and expanding access to federal contracts, it makes a huge difference for small business owners all across the country. That's why we're announcing our small business contracting scorecard this week. This report card is our way to recognize those agencies who lead by example. We want to encourage every part of the federal government to do business with small enterprises in the communities where we live and work."   

Last month, the SBA announced at a press conference that for the first time in history, the federal government has met the 5 percent goal for contracting with women-owned small businesses and record achievements for service disabled veteran-owned and small disadvantaged businesses. More information about these contracting figures can be found here.

Five agencies' grades increased from FY 2014, 16 agencies' grades stayed the same and 3 agencies' grades decreased.  The agency breakdown is as follows:

• 3 agencies received an "A⁺"
• 18 agencies received an "A"
• 3 agencies received a "B"
• 0 agencies received a "C"
• 0 agencies received a "D"
• 0 agencies received a "F"

Three agencies are noteworthy of recognition for their small business performance during FY2015. The following agencies received a grade of A+ on their Scorecard: 

• General Services Administration ;
• U.S. Department of Transportation ; and
• U. S. Small Business Administration

About the Scorecard

The annual Scorecard is an assessment tool to (1) measure how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals, (2) provide accurate and transparent contracting data and (3) report agency-specific progress.  The prime and subcontracting component goals include goals for small businesses, small businesses owned by women, small disadvantaged businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and small businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones).

Every year, the SBA works with each agency to set their prime and subcontracting goals and their grades are based on the agreed upon goals. Each federal agency has a different small business contracting goal, determined annually in consultation with SBA. SBA ensures that the sum total of all of the goals exceeds the 23 percent target established by law.  

Each agency's overall grade will show an A+ for agencies that meet or exceed 120 percent of their goals, an A for those between 100 percent and 119 percent, a B for 90 to 99 percent, a C for 80 to 89 percent, a D for 70 to 79 percent and an F for less than 70 percent. An agency's overall grade was comprised of three quantitative measures: prime contracts (80 percent), subcontracts (10 percent) and its progress plan for meeting goals (10 percent).

The individual agency scorecards released today by SBA, as well as a detailed explanation of the scorecard methodology, is available online: https://www.sba.gov/contracting/finding-government-customers/see-agency-small-business-scorecards.

Performance in four out of five of the small business prime contracting and socio-economic categories showed significant improvement, with increases in performance against statutory goals. The contract goal achievements by dollars and percentages for all categories are as follows:

The SBA has worked with federal agencies to expand opportunities for small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.

Additionally, since SBA started the current small business procurement scorecard methodology in FY 2009, six agencies have received a grade of "A+" or "A" seven fiscal years in a row (FY 2009 through FY 2015):  the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.  SBA applauds the consistency of these six agencies in awarding contracts to small businesses. 

While each federal agency is responsible for ensuring the quality of its own contracting data, SBA conducts additional analyses to help agencies identify potential data anomalies.  As part of its ongoing data quality efforts, the SBA is working with federal agency procurement staff to provide tools to facilitate review of data, implement improvements to procurement systems and conduct training to improve accuracy.

The overall federal small business prime contracting performance released today by the SBA, as well as a detailed explanation of the calculations, is available online at http://go.usa.gov/Nxxd.

National Small Business Week is an annual event organized by SBA to recognize the achievements of the top small businesses in the nation. Since 1963, the president of the United States has issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of National Small Business Week.

This year National Small Business Week will be recognized from May 1-7 with national events planned in Washington, D.C., New York, Denver, Phoenix, Oakland and San Jose, Calif.  Events throughout the week will be live-streamed on SBA's website at www.sba.gov. Make sure to check in during the event for live social media engagement, using the hashtag #DreamSmallBiz. For more information on the national events please visit: www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek.

Contact: Tiffani S. Clements (202) 401-0035
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news  
Release Number: 16-37

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SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

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