Set-Aside Alert exclusive research:

8(a) awards hit high in FY 2019 after 9 years of sluggish growth

      Federal contract awards to participants in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program reached their highest level in the last 9 years in fiscal 2019, following a period of relatively flat awards, according to a newly updated report from the Congressional Resource Service.

      About 60% was won through set-asides and about 40% through open competition and through use of the 8(a) firms’ other small business certifications.

      The growth in total awards for the 8(a) participants lagged behind the growth in total small business federal contract awards from fiscal 2010-2019.

      The 8(a)s also were sluggish in comparison to total Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) awards. However, the 8(a) awards did expand faster than total federal contract awards.

8(a) awards

      From 2010-2019 (all years are fiscal years), total 8(a) award value rose from $28.1 billion to $30.4 billion, which was 8.2% over 9 years. Here is the Total 8(a) Award data from CRS:

      Meanwhile, total small business awards grew by 35.7% over the 9 years, from $98 billion to $133 billion.

      SDB awards--which include 8(a) awards--expanded by 50% at the same time, from $34.4 billion in 2010 to $51.6 billion in 2019, according to SBA data.

      On the other hand, 8(a) outpaced total federal contract awards, which rose by only 5.2%, from $561 billion in 2010 to $590 billion in 2019, according to data from USASpending.gov.

Other 8(a) issues

      The CRS report did not discuss reasons for the slower rate of growth for 8(a) awards relative to the rise in SDB and small business awards. However, it did identify several current concerns with the 8(a) program:

• That SBA’s actions making it easier to participate in 8(a) may have had the effect of also eroding safeguards against fraud;
• That there are reported variations in SBA’s 8(a) service delivery;
• That there are reported deficiencies in SBA’s monitoring of 8(a) participants’ continuing eligibility;
• That there are disagreements concerning the financial thresholds used to determine economic disadvantage; and
• That current performance measures may be inadequate to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

      President Joe Biden has stated that he wants to raise the government’s goal for procurement with SDBs by 50% by 2026, translating to $100 billion in additional awards over the next five years. The SDBs include 8(a) firms and also self-certified SDBs.

CIO-SP4 amendments coming fast & making vendors furious

Time running out for PPP forgiveness

8(a) awards hit high in FY 2019 after 9 years of sluggish growth

Vaccination orders likely

OASIS 8(a) contracts now in eBuy

Supply chain advice to DOD

DOL rule on minimum wage

DOD final rule on services contract data

Column: Observations on Recent Trends in Small Business Federal Contracting

Washington Insider:

Coronavirus Update