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Good News for Small Businesses From the US Senate

Posted in: Blog on October 12, 2009

There was some good news coming out of a Senate hearing last week, especially if you are a small business – As of Oct. 2, nearly 26 percent of all federal stimulus contracting dollars, or more than $4 billion, was awarded to small businesses.

Joe Jordan, associate administrator for government contracting business development at the Small Business Administration, testified last week before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. The transcript can be found here: http://bit.ly/2eWQDm.

The Recovery Act does not set a specific goal for small business contracting, but in most cases, agencies have been instructed to follow the government’s annual goal of awarding 23 percent of all prime contract dollars to small firms.

“Put simply, this is a win-win situation,” Jordan said. “Small businesses get increased volume, sales and hires. They get a lift to be competitive in the global marketplace and help lead the nation toward economic recovery. In addition, federal agencies get to work with the most innovative, nimble and responsive companies.”

The Recovery Act spending totals for the various socioeconomic and disadvantaged categories also have been encouraging, Jordan testified. For example, small disadvantaged businesses have received 11 percent of stimulus contracts, exceeding the goal of 5 percent, he said.

The only subcategory in which agencies have failed to meet the overall goal is women-owned small businesses, which have received 4 percent of all Recovery contracts as opposed to the goal of 5 percent, Jordan said. To increase that figure, SBA developed its first online training module specifically geared toward women in contracting. Read more about the course here: http://bit.ly/3zd5NQ.

Jordan testified further that “agencies are working to make procurement information available and accessible through http://www.recovery.gov, and promote http://www.fedbizopps.gov as a database where small businesses can access contracting opportunities.”