The bulk of federal procurements bought under Simplified Acquisition Procedures are going to small businesses, according to John Shoraka, associate administrator for the Small Business Administration.

“We are close to 64%” of those procurements going to small firms, Shoraka said at a recent event hosted by the Coalition for Government Procurement. “It should be a lot closer to 100%.”

However, getting to 100% is not realistic because many agencies rely on specific licensed products--typically software--available only from large firms, Shoraka added.

There is an ongoing discussion within the administration on whether to set a small business goal for the simplified acquisitions, and how to determine what the goal ought to be, Shoraka told Set-Aside Alert.

“There are lots of discussions on what the goal should be,” Shoraka said.

Simplified acquisition procedures are allowed under the Federal Acquisition Regulation for buys of $3,000 to $150,000. Agencies are to allocate contracts in that range to small firms unless there is no expectation of offers from at least two small firms.

Some agencies are awarding more than 64% to small vendors, and others, less. The SBA’s share of simplified buys going to small firms is close to 90%, Shoraka said.

The SBA’s figure of 64% overall small vendor participation in simplified buys is higher than what was suggested in two recent reports. The American Small Business Coalition estimated that about 50% of contracts under simplifed procedures went to small firms, while Bloomberg Government estimated 55%, for fiscal 2011.

The SBA has just notified federal agencies of their shares of simplified buys, but the agencies are still reviewing those numbers and have not released them publicly, Shoraka told Set-Aside Alert.

The SBA is working with the other agencies in a “cooperative effort” to raise the percentage of simplified acquisitions devoted to small business, Shoraka said.

“We are not beating them over the head,” he added. “It’s ‘how can we get to 100%?’ There is a lot of opportunity there.”

One of the possibilities in raising small firm participation is to link senior executive evaluations and promotions with their success in promoting small business. The Air Force is the most proactive on that front, and other agencies are moving forward as well, Shoraka said.

“We are seeing a lot of momentum in keeping senior leadership accountable,” Shoraka said.

Even so, the SBA has observed ongoing ups and downs in communicating and enforcing the importance of including small businesses in contractor competitions.

An agency program manager may perceive a small business to be more risky in comparison to incumbent contractors. Exacerbating these factors is an extremely tight budget environment, making it even harder to take risks, Shoraka said.

“We have small business ‘OSDBU’ champions and Chief Procurement Officer champions, but on the program management side, they are anxious to get the mission accomplished and get the job done, and small business goals often are a secondary thing,” Shoraka said.