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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Small biz set-asides and sole source awards trending downFederal dollars obligated for set-asides and sole-source awards for small businesses, including disadvantaged and socioeconomic categories, have fallen dramatically in the last two years and appear to be on track to continue that downward trend this year, according to exclusive research by Set-Aside Alert. The trends are surprising because federal small business procurement overall and total federal contract spending have been on an upward trend in those years. The study reviewed set-asides for small businesses as well as 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned and the Buy Indian Act. Set-Aside Alert’s review of data from USASpending.gov showed these totals for such set-aside spending:
From 2017 to 2018, such spending dropped by 42% and only slightly recovered in 2019. When sole-source awards are included, the totals are a bit higher but show the same trend:
That’s a drop of 38% from fiscal 2017 to 2018. The trends for set-asides are somewhat unexpected because small business procurement and total federal contracting spending have risen steadily during the period. Small business procurement rose from $90.7 billion in fiscal 2015 to $100 billion in fiscal 2016; $105.7 billion, fiscal 2017; and $120.8 billion, fiscal 2018. Fiscal 2019 figures were not yet available. Total federal contract spending eligible for set-asides rose each year during the period, from $352 billion in fiscal 2015, to $411 billion in fiscal 2016; to $443 billion in fiscal 2017; to $482 billion in fiscal 2018. That is a 37% overall increase during the period. Since set-asides are relatively labor-intensive, and since staffing has been limited in some federal agencies during the coronavirus pandemic that started in March 2020, there may be a further reduction in set-asides this year.
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