Small businesses make headway in government: Are you properly registered?

By Kevin P. Young, Consulting Market Analyst

There’s good news for small business federal government contractors in the recent announcement from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that the Biden-Harris Administration exceeded its small business federal contracting goal in 2021. According to the SBA, the administration awarded 27.2 percent, or $154.2 billion, in new contract dollars to small businesses – an increase of $8 billion increase from 2020.

The SBA has a goal of 23 percent to 26 percent of all System for Award Management (SAM)-registered federal procurements be targeted for small businesses – direct, via prime contractors and via procurement vehicles/channels.

Although the news is good and, despite the overall increase in the dollar value of small business awards, the absolute number of small businesses receiving prime contracts with the federal government decreased again in FY21.