The General Services Administration (GSA) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently launched two new digital tools for Federal agencies to advance equity in procurement.
The tools – the Government-wide Procurement Equity Tool and the Supplier Base Dashboard – help introduce agencies to new businesses to the Federal marketplace and find qualified vendors.
Additionally, the tools can help agencies track their progress toward equity in procurement goals – which can have positive ripple effects on both the small business sector and the overall economy.
“These two tools are going to help agencies make more connections with the diverse array of businesses offering their products in the Federal marketplace,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in a press release. “We’re creating a better user experience while helping ensure the government can procure the highest quality goods and services with the best value.”
“By providing our Federal partners with more information when they make procurement decisions, we’re better able to set ourselves up to achieve our contracting goals and create more equity in the marketplace for everyone,” she added.
The Biden-Harris administration increased the Federal contract spend goal for small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) to 15 percent by 2025 – a substantial increase from the previous statutory goal of five percent.
These tools will help support that goal, as well as the third priority under the President’s Management Agenda (PMA): managing the business of government to build back better.
Specifically, the tools will enhance access to procurement opportunities for SDBs, women-owned small businesses (WOSBs), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs), and historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small businesses.
The Government-wide Procurement Equity Tool uses data from SAM.gov and the Federal Procurement Data System to support market research that focuses on SDBs. Federal agencies can use the tool to find SDBs by location, business type, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, and Product Services Code. Agencies can also find new SDBs that have registered in SAM.gov but have yet to receive a Federal award.
As for the Supplier Base Dashboard, this tool tracks the total number of entities that have done business with an agency; their size and socio-economic status; and the number of new and established vendors in the supplier base, market categories, and subcategories of interest.
Federal agencies are invited to provide feedback on the two new tools through this survey form.
“We’re committed to helping the acquisition workforce strengthen stewardship and efficiency in the Federal procurement process while simultaneously advancing equity,” said OMB’s Associate Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Mathew Blum. “We can maximize the power of procurement as a catalyst to help address our nation’s top priorities.”
