The Biden administration announced on Monday that it awarded a record-breaking $178.6 to small businesses in fiscal year (FY) 2023, representing 28.4 percent of all contracting dollars and an increase of about $16 billion from FY2022.
To celebrate Small Business Week, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released its annual procurement scorecard, which found that 22 Federal agencies had been awarded an “A” rating or higher.
“Since arriving in office, the Biden-Harris administration has overseen a sustained small business boom across the country. The president’s agenda has driven the first, second, and third strongest years of new business application rates on record – and is on pace for the fourth – with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications,” stated the White House.
The scorecard also found that small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) have been awarded $76.2 billion – or 12.1 percent – of Federal contracting dollars and, surpassing the 12 percent goal that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had established for FY23.
“This represents the third consecutive year of record-breaking awards to SDBs under President Biden and puts the administration on track to reach the president’s goal of increasing Federal contracting dollars to SDBs,” the White House said.
“Increasing Federal investments in under-resourced businesses helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams, strengthens the supplier base, and contributes to narrowing persistent wealth disparities,” it added.
Another significant finding from the SBA’s procurement scorecard is that $32 billion went to service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB) – an increase of almost $4 billion from FY2022.
“The administration surpassed its goal by nearly 70 percent, with a total of 5.07 percent of Federal contracting dollars going to SDVOSB,” said the White House.
