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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Set-Aside Alert exclusive research: 8(a) Awards Volume FY2012 thru FY2022 8(a) set-aside awards grew by 7.44% in FY2022; still in slump8(a) set-aside growth aligned with boost in all contracts, but was lower than growth in all small biz set-asidesFederal contract awards for participants in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program grew in value by 7.44% last year, to $12.57 billion. That was in near-perfect alignment with the 7.45% increase in total federal contract award value during the same period, according to Set-Aside Alert’s analysis of data from the government’s USASpending.gov website. Total contract awards rose to $693.9 billion, up from $645.80 billion, from 2021-2022. But the 8(a) rise was less than the rise in the total of all types of small business set-aside awards. Even so, the 8(a) boost was a welcome lift after several years of slumping, following a dramatic 35% drop in fiscal 2018, as previously reported exclusively by Set-Aside Alert. From a several years long upward climb to reach $17 billion in fiscal 2017, 8(a) set-aside awards plummeted to only $11 billion in fiscal 2018. Analysis of the trends The 8(a) set-asides are not the only set-asides that have stagnated. Most small business set-aside awards dropped in fiscal 2018 and have remained relatively low, as previously reported by Set-Aside Alert. The downturn occurred even while total contract spending has been rising fast. Contracting officials likely were very busy, allowing for less time to create set-asides, which generally take more time and attention and result in relatively small awards. And total small business awards--set-asides and competitive--also grew from 2018-2022, which perhaps created a perception that set-asides were not necessary to meet small business goals. Set-Aside Alert has asked the SBA to comment on the trends. For 8(a)s, despite the rise last year, the impact of the slump continues. Since 2018, total 8(a) set-aside awards have risen by only 13%, averaging only 3.4% annual growth. The future is likely to be brighter. President Joe Biden has raised the Small Disadvantaged Business goal to 12% this year, rising to 15% by 2025. A large share of SDB goals are met through 8(a) awards. 8(a) Set-Aside Award Data Here are the totals for 8(a) set-aside awards (including sole-source awards) for the last 10 years. All years are fiscal years. All data is from the USASpending website.
The slump in 8(a) set-asides has occurred despite an overall rise in federal contract spending during the 2018-2021 period.
However, total set-aside awards of all 20 types (small biz, HUBZone, SDVOSB, Buy Indian Act, etc.), increased by 9.27% from 2011-2022, which was more than the 7.44% increase in 8(a) set-aside awards during that time.
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