OMB announces four strategies to attract & keep new vendors

Efforts include GSA’s new Supplier Base Dashboard

      The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agency has announced several initiatives to attract more new entrants to the federal marketplace, primarily targeting small and Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs).

      The efforts include reporting, tracking and analyzing data on the government’s new Supplier Base Dashboard.

      The dashboard is intended to help agencies hone their efforts to increase small business and SDB participation. For example, the agencies may be more effective in identifying gaps in their vendor mix by comparing with data from other agencies.

      On Feb. 17, Jason S. Miller, OMB’s deputy director for management, distributed a memo to agencies outlining four strategies for “creating a more diverse and resilient marketplace” by attracting more entrants.

      The strategies--in alignment with the President’s Management Agenda and a related OMB memo in 2022--aim to grow the small business federal supplier base and to award at least 15% to SDBs by 2025. Several steps already are underway, including work to improve agency procurement forecasts and increase contract on-ramps.

      OMB’s four new strategies are:

• Setting definitions: For example, a “new entrant” is defined as an entity of any size that has received a federal prime contract award over the micro-purchase threshold for the first time, or has received such an award after five years without such an award. “Recent entrant” also is defined.
• New Dashboard: OMB is providing guidance to agencies on using the General Services Administration’s new Supplier Base Dashboard to evaluate progress in attracting new entrants and achieving diversity in the supplier base.

        Tracking includes the total numbers, including by agency, of new, recent and established vendors; small and not-small vendors; SDB, HUBZone, women-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned vendors; number and amount of awards; and NAICS codes, Product Service Codes and Category Management category of awards.

• ”Priority supply chains”: OMB is focusing its efforts on boosting new entrants in supply chains that have experienced challenges in finding contractors, especially small firms and SDBs. OMB also will analyze category management spending to identify categories in which small vendors and SDBs are underrepresented.
• Vendors without awards: A new Procurement Equity Tool has been developed to help agencies identify possible eligible vendors already listed in SAM but receiving no awards. About 75% of those registered in SAM do not receive any awards in a given year, the memo states. OMB also is working with OSDBUs, senior procurement officials and others to attract vendors not yet registered in SAM.

More Information:
OMB memo: https://bit.ly/3xWCvhW
Supplier Dashboard & Procurement tool: https://bit.ly/3SA8oGr

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