Columbus – The U.S. Small Business Administration’s release of the Fiscal Year 2019 Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard shows a record-breaking $132.9 billion in prime federal contracts – 26.5% of the federal contracting dollars – were awarded to small businesses, adding a record- breaking one million jobs to the American economy. In the Columbus District, which covers central and southern Ohio, $2,585,683,138 in federal contracts went to area small businesses.
The FY 19 national numbers are an increase of nearly $12 billion over FY 18 and mark the seventh consecutive year the federal government exceeded its small business contracting goal. FY 19 also marks the second time that the women-owned small business contracting goal of 5% was met*.
“These record-breaking national numbers are a win-win, as, along with supplying the government with the goods and services needed to operate, they support our nation’s small businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as their employees and local communities,” SBA’s Great Lakes Regional Administrator Rob Scott said. “The accomplishments in the Columbus District are a direct result of our efforts to ensure small businesses succeed and especially important now, as our economy recovers from the pandemic-related setbacks.”
Dayton-area small business JYG Innovations illustrates the value of a federal contract. Owner and CEO Jacqueline Gamblin credits her 8(a) certification with much of her business’ success in recent years.
“The 8(a) program helps small businesses build capabilities and a solid past performance record while simultaneously allowing a business owner to hire talented personnel and strengthen the company’s structure and culture to enter into a competitive market,” Gamblin said. “I started the 8(a) program as the sole employee of my business. Now, as I get ready to graduate from the program, I have 145 employees and a clear path forward to successful growth.”
In 2019, JYG Innovations obtained multiple-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts within the General Services Administration One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services program. Utilizing the business’ 8(a) and small business federal contracting certifications, JYG Innovations will begin performing on governmentwide contracts across the country. As a result, Gamblin plans to hire more employees and expand her business to multiple locations.
“Central and southern Ohio small businesses secured more than $2.5 billion in federal contracts in FY19, which had an incredible impact to our economy,” SBA’s Columbus District Director Everett Woodel said. “Jackie’s success in growing from a one-person operation to an organization with 145 local jobs truly captures the purpose of government set-aside programs. We want to give small businesses the support that they need to grow and be competitive.”
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.
The SBA continues to collaborate with federal agencies to expand small business opportunities for small business contractors to compete and win federal contracts. The FY 19 Scorecard analyzed the prime contracting and subcontracting performance and other contributing factors, which resulted in an overall “A” grade for the federal government. Eight agencies received A+, 14 received an “A” and two received a “B” grade.
FY2019 Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard Individual agency scorecards the SBA released, as well as a detailed explanation of the methodology, are available online.
• In FY19, the federal government exceeded the service-disabled veteran-owned small business and small disadvantaged business goals and the prime contract dollar awards in all small business categories increased from previous years.
• The federal government also exceeded its subcontract goals for awards to small businesses and women-owned small businesses and awarded more than $90 billion in subcontracts to all small businesses.
The annual Procurement 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 in Historically Underutilized Business Zones.
Every fiscal year, the SBA works with each agency to set its small business prime and subcontracting goals (each agency has different goals) and the agency’s performance is based on the agreed upon goals. The SBA ensures that the sum total of all the goals exceed the 23% target for the federal government as well as the socio-economic goals established by law.
While each federal agency is responsible for ensuring the quality of its own contracting data, the SBA conducts additional analyses to help agencies identify potential data anomalies. As part of its ongoing data quality efforts, the SBA works with federal agency procurement staff to provide analysis and tools to facilitate review of data, implement improvements to procurement systems, and conduct
training to improve accuracy.
