The reason agencies finally beat thegovernmentwide goal of awarding at least 5 percent of all "eligible" contractsto women-owned small businesses in 2015 can be traced back to a decades-oldfight that spanned three administrations.

In 2000, Congress passed a bill andPresident Bill Clinton signed it into law that established the women-ownedsmall business procurement program. It did several things to promote federalefforts to contract with women, including creating set-asides in certainindustries where women were under-represented.

But it took the Small BusinessAdministration nearly 11 years to implement the program. So just in 2015,agencies now are taking advantage of the tools.

SBA reported March 2 thatagencies awarded $17.8 billion in contracts last year out of a total of $352.2billion that it considers eligible for small firms.

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"It started gaining traction and significantly making an impact onbeating the goal this past year, but there have been a lot of changes," saidJohn Shoraka, SBA's associate administrator of Government Contracting andBusiness Development, in an interview with Federal News Radio. "We knew we hada program that wasn't perfect. It had caps on contracts. There wasn't a sole sourceprovision. It had a reduced number of industries where contracts could beset-aside. We worked with the Hill closely to remove some of thoserestrictions, and I think again, we are seeing the fruits of that labor to helpus meet the 5 percent goal."

SBA is taking one more step to helpwomen-owned businesses by adding 36 new industries —for a total of 113 — where these firms are under-represented in federalprocurement, thus letting agencies set-aside more contracts.

"Those additional [industries] representanother $39 billion in potential opportunities for women-owned smallbusinesses," Shoraka said. "I think that will create a lot of opportunities andeven create an opportunity to exceed the 5 percent goal."

SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweetcommissioned a second study with the Commerce Department to determine if thelist of industries needed updating. SBA sent the study to the Hill in Januaryand issued a Federal Register notice detailing the newindustries.

While the achievement for women-ownedbusinesses was 21 years in the making, the fact of the matter is agenciesmet the small business goal for the third consecutive year, and doubledthe 5 percent for contracts awarded to small disadvantaged businesses andsurpassed the 3 percent goal for service disabled veteran-owned smallbusinesses as well.

Shoraka said the achievements across allcategories can be attributed to a few main reasons.

"There are a lot of things theadministration has done to institutionalize the success — keeping seniorleadership accountable and having the Office of Small Disadvantaged Utilizationreport to senior leadership. Those types of things are now gaining traction andare creating an environment where small business procurement is now on thefront burner as opposed to the back burner," he said. "How much further can wegrow when it comes to small business? But certainly we see that somewherearound the 25 percent range is a trend that should continue."

One way SBA and Congress are trying tohelp is by expanding the mentor-protégé program to all agencies and for alltypes of small firms.

Shoraka said SBA expects to issue thefinal rule this summer — June or July — and begin implementation by the fall.The program today is only open to firms in the 8(a) business developmentprogram.

"In the 8(a) world, the mentor-protégéprogram has created a lot of opportunities for new, nascent companies topartner with a mentor to pursue larger and more complex contracts," he said."Expanding that program to all small businesses should help us cast a broadernet."

While recognizing the achievements for2015 is laudable, there are some who believe SBA is doing a disservice to thesmall business community because of how they are counting contract dollars.

SBA continues to base agency progress on"eligible" contracts — $352.2 billion out of $440 billion —instead of on allspending. SBA says certain contracts shouldn't be counted because smallbusinesses don't have a chance to win them, because of the size or scope.

The American Small Business League saidin a release that it is challenging the SBA's announcement based on the factthat they are not using the total federal acquisition dollar figure and thattheir numbers include contracts to large corporations and Fortune 500 firms.

The House Small Business Committee alsois concerned about SBA's data, saying looking at only "eligible" contractsexcludes up to 20 percent of all spending.

To view full article, click here: http://federalnewsradio.com/contractsawards/2016/03/sba-not-letting-agencies-rest-contracting-laurels/