Federal agency purchases from small companies owned by service-disabled veterans have risen dramatically and appear to have reached the government’s 3% goal for the first time for fiscal 2012, according to the latest figures on the White House’s Small Business Dashboard.

Procurements from service-disabled veteran-owned (SDVO) small firms accounted for 3.04% of total federal procurements in fiscal 2012, the dashboard reported on Feb. 17.

The dashboard is part of the White House’s Data.gov initiative. It allows users access to continuously updated data from the Federal Procurement Data System.

The value of SDVO purchases rose to $12.2 billion in fiscal 2012, up from the Small Business Administration’s official figure of $11.2 billion in fiscal 2011.

The dashboard also shows increased buys from small firms overall. But HUBZone purchases have dropped.

The dashboard figures still may change as more data is entered, and final official numbers for fiscal 2012 goal achievement will be released by the SBA this summer, John Shoraka, associate administrator for government contracting and business development, wrote in a statement to Set-Aside Alert.

Specialists have indicated that changes at this point are likely to be small.

SBA annual goaling reports show a strong upward trend in buys from SDVO firms--rising from .87% of total buys in fiscal 2006, to 1.01% in fiscal 2007, to 1.49% in fiscal 2008, to 1.98% in fiscal 2009 to 2.5% in fiscal 2010 and to 2.65% in fiscal 2011.

If the dashboard figure of 3.04% becomes official, it would continue the trend, and it would be the first time the federal government met its 3% goal for service-disabled firms for at least eight years.

In other news from the dashboard, the government is edging closer to meeting the overall 23% goal for small business.

The dashboard shows the government made 22.24% of its acquisitions from small firms (totaling about $90 billion to date) in fiscal 2012, up from 21.67% in fiscal 2011 in the SBA scorecard.

On the other hand, HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) buys are shrinking.

Purchases from HUBZone firms fell to 2.02% in fiscal 2012 on the dashboard, down from 2.35% in fiscal 2011 in the SBA Procurement Scorecard.

The HUBZone Contractors National Council said in a recent report that a major reason for the spending decline is the large decrease in the number of HUBZone-certified small businesses. Most of that reduction occurred through remapping of HUBZone areas under 2010 Census data in late 2011.

In addition, many council member companies have reported decreases in the number of HUBZone set-aside opportunities over the last year, the national council said in its report.

Federal agencies that spent less than 1% on HUBZone contracts in fiscal 2012 included the Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing & Urban Development and Labor departments, the Agency for International Development and NASA.

More information:
Small Business Dashboard: http://smallbusiness.data.gov/