Small business contracts: Digging into agencies' performance

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By Jonathan Lutton

By Jonathan Lutton

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The percentage of contracts going to small businesses varies widely from agency to agency -- and the patterns for specific small-business types are even more interesting.

The federal government awarded 24.99 percent ($91.1 billion) of its annual budget to small business contractors in FY 2014, marking its highest percentage since 1997, according to a PR Newswire press release.

In accordance with the federal government's goal for small business spending (23 percent), the Small Business Association compiles contracting data and releases its assessment each year to ensure agencies are meeting their goals. Of the 24 grades assigned for FY 2014, 17 received an A and 3 received an A+--including USAID, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security)--where grades are derived from an assessment of prime contracts, subcontracts and the agency's plan for meeting future goals.

Women owned and disadvantaged businesses together accounted for over half of the small business contracts awarded in FY 2014, and agencies' performance increased across all five prime and socio-economic categories over FY 2013.

The following data has been ranked from highest to lowest in accordance with the SBA's Scorecard Summary. In all cases where the charts appear misaligned (e.g. 35.52% appears greater than 36.67%), this is due to a scale adjustment that allows data under two percent to render their numerical component within the chart.


Government-Wide Small Business Spending (FY 2014)

9.46
4.68
3.68
1.82
5.35
- 24.99%

- Small Disadvantaged Businesses
- Women Owned Small Businesses
- Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business
- HUB Zone
- Excess*

*Excess was calculated from the difference between each agency's total small business spending and the four categories provided within the report, including: small disadvantaged businesses, women owned small businesses, service disabled veteran owned small businesses and HUB Zone.


Agency Performance Breakdown
** These three agencies' performance rankings have been scaled down (50%) to accommodate the remaining data.

Small Business Administration**

47.80
23.75
4.47
6.98
0
- 77.48%

Department of Interior**

23.57
11.21
3.88
5.81
10.8
- 55.27%

Department of Agriculture**

14.08
9.68
3.80
3.59
22.53
- 53.68%

Department of Transportation

21.15
12.41
3.20
4.98
2.84
- 44.58%

Department of State

25.45
9.71
5.26
1.97
1.15
- 43.54%

Department of Commerce

17.32
12.28
4.77
1.09
5.54
- 41.00%

Environmental Protection Agency

15.97
5.90
5.34
1.84
11.67
- 40.72%

Department of Housing and Urban Development

16.49
14.79
3.62
0.70
4.72
- 40.32%

General Services Administration

16.04
8.03
4.17
3.29
7.44
- 38.97%

Social Security Administration

8.60
10.72
2.69
1.38
14.93
- 38.32%

Department of Treasury

14.37
9.52
4.07
3.36
5.35
- 36.67%

Department of Labor

18.27
8.82
3.18
1.07
4.66
- 36.00%

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

18.05
10.08
4.47
2.55
0.37
- 35.52%

Department of Homeland Security

14.59
7.37
6.19
3.86
3.05
- 35.06%

Department of Veterans Affairs

8.35
3.42
18.71
1.50
2.44
- 34.42%

Department of Justice

9.84
6.85
3.57
1.06
11.13
- 32.45%

Department of Education

4.96
9.51
0.75
0.22
13.24
- 28.68%

Department of Defense

8.95
3.97
3.04
1.93
5.58
- 23.47%

Office of Personnel Management

10.14
9.00
0.49
2.79
1.04
- 23.46%

Department of Health & Human Services

8.91
6.56
1.07
0.61
4.41
- 21.56%

Agency for International Development

13.66
6.42
3.88
0.22
0
- 20.81%

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

8.98
3.30
0.57
0.86
4.63
- 18.34%

National Science Foundation

9.19
4.83
3.23
1.90
0
- 17.00%

Department of Energy

2.28
1.27
0.43
0.58
0.69
- 5.25%

Source: PR Newswire's "Federal Government Achieves Small Business Procurement Contracting Goal for Second Consecutive Year"

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