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Grading the Government on Small Business Contracts – FY 2014 Scorecard

Following Up on Acquisition Reform

Low Grades for Federal Agencies Mean High Opportunities for Small Business Contractors

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Bill Jaffe
July 15, 2015
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By and large the SBA scorecard represents a very strong performance by the Federal Government in awarding contracts to small business.
© kittitee550 - Fotolia.com
© kittitee550 – Fotolia.com

On June 26th, the SBA released their Small Business Scorecard, rating how well each federal agency met their small business goals. The team at Set-Aside Alert and Business Research Services compiled the data into a one-page report you can download from their website.

The first thing to notice is that the government gave themselves an overall rating of A for the year 2014. Similar to FY 2013, they fell below the 5% goal for woman-owned businesses and the 3% goal for HUBZone businesses (located in a traditionally underutilized business area), but they exceeded the small business goal (24.9% instead of 23%), which likely led to the overall high rating.

We notice again that the Department of Energy is the only agency with a grade of F – a failing grade. They only awarded 5.25% of contracts to small business. Partly this is an institutional issue because the Department of Energy is responsible for some very large business contracts. NASA has similar issues; space stations require huge gobs of money, making it difficult to achieve the 23% prime set-aside goal.

There are some other curious anomalies in the report, such as Commerce getting an A+ rating for their 41% awarded to small business, even though they still missed their HUBZone goal by doing 1.09% instead of the goal of 3%.

Agriculture got an A, not an A+, even though the awarded 53.8% of their contracts to small business, and made every single set-aside goal including HUBZone (one of only seven agencies to make the HUBZone goal).

As you run down the numbers, it looks like just about everybody is making their small disadvantaged business goals, but many agencies missed on woman-owned businesses. There are a few missing the service-disabled veteran-owned business goals, and quite a large number are missing the HUBZone goal (overall the agencies only did 1.82% against the HUBZone goal of 3%).

It must be said that this is considerably better than last year’s numbers, and clearly represents a focus on making the small business goals across all agencies and all contracting authorities.

One caveat and then we’ll close. All of these numbers are based on the federal procurement data system – contract data from Feb of 2015. Some corrections may occur and some individual numbers may adjust here and there. But by and large this represents a very strong performance in the overall small business arena.

Related posts:

  1. Government Meets FY 13 Small Business Goal; HUBZones and WOSBs Fall Short
  2. Bill H.R. 3850 – Government Efficiency through Small Business Contracting Act of 2012
  3. SBA Small Business Procurement Scorecard – Reading Between the Lines
  4. Biggest Gaps in Small Business Report Cards
  5. Reporting on the Report Cards for Small Business Contracting Goals
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The All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program

SBA had a well-established mentor-protégé program (MPP) for SBA 8(a) certified firms but lacked an MPP program for other small business concerns and specifically, one for specialized certified concerns such as WOSB, EDWOSB, SDVOSB, & HubZone. The 2010 Jobs Act and 2013 NDAA gave SBA the authorization to address this by establishing an all-encompassing mentor-protégé program. Ms. Sandi Clifford, deputy director of the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP), visited the Mid-Tier Advocacy (MTA) earlier this year to discuss the program. Here are some of the highlights of this candid and informative discussion: As Ms. Clifford explained, mentor services to protégés include: • Management and technical assistance (internal business management systems) • Financial assistance (in the form of equity investments and/or loans) • Contracting assistance (contracting processes, capabilities acquisitions and performance) • International trade education (learn how to export, international trade business plan, finding markets) • Business development assistance (strategy, finding contracting and partnership opportunities) • General and/or administrative assistance (business processes and support) As administrators of the program, SBA provides: • Central HQ as opposed to 8(a) distributive model • Online application – certify.sba.gov • Online course tutorial requirement • Annual review and evaluation • Template agreements, i.e., MPA (Mentor-Protégé Agreement) Other All-Small Mentor-Protégé Program (ASMPP) details: • A protégé may generally only have one mentor at a time; SBA may approve a second (two is the maximum) where no competition exists, or if the protégé registers under a new NAICS or otherwise requires new mentor skills.  • Both protégé and mentor must be for-profit (with exception of protégé being an agriculture cooperative). • A mentor may have no more than three protégés at same time (no lifetime limit). • A participant can be both a protégé and mentor at the same time, if there is no competition or conflict. • The ASMPP is self-certifying and is open to businesses who qualify as small in their primary NAICS code, or who are seeking business development assistance in a secondary NAICs where they also qualify as small.  • SBA will not authorize MPAs in second NAICS in which firm has never performed any work; or where firm would only bring “small” status to Mentor and nothing else. • Existing 8(a) firms in last 6 months of the 8(a) program may transfer their MPA to the ASMPP via the online application process. Coordinate with 8(a) office to fine tune the process but there is no reapplication required. • Application requirements include upload of business plan, but no financial statements or tax returns. • JV agreements: ASMPP will not review and approve joint venture agreements. How to apply for the ASMPP: • Applicants are required to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting their mentor/protégé application. • Complete your business profile in certify.SBA.gov. • Evaluate and select your mentor prior to applying. This is not a matching program. SBA will not find a mentor for you. • Begin the ASMPP application process. • Protégés and mentors must complete the online tutorial and have their certificate of completion and all other required documents ready for upload Thank you to Sandi Clifford, Deputy Director, All Small Mentor-Protégé Program, for this helpful overview. TAPE has mentored several small businesses over it’s life as a large business (we’re large in some NAICS codes, though still small in others) and it has been gratifying, satisfying, and integral to our success. As protégés ourselves, we have benefitted from working with some really classy large businesses, and have also had the experience of being a protégé and really getting no tangible benefits. We are currently working with two small businesses, and negotiating ASMPP agreements. You can learn more about the ASMPP on the SBA site. To join MTA and attend future events like this one, please visit www.midtier.org.
Bill Jaffe
August 23, 2017
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