The Biden administration has announced several efforts to advance equity in federal procurement and new measures to broaden contracting opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The White House said Tuesday the federal government awarded $154.2 billion or 27.2 percent of total contract dollars to small businesses in fiscal year 2021, up $8 billion from FY 2020.
Federal agencies exceeded the 5 percent and 3 percent contracting targets for small disadvantaged and service-disabled veteran-owned small enterprises, respectively.
Starting this summer, the departments of the Interior and Transportation will conduct events to provide information on technical and financial assistance opportunities for small and underserved businesses.
The White House announced that DOT and the Small Business Administration will help expand access to capital of small disadvantaged enterprises working on or pursuing Bipartisan Infrastructure Law contracts by linking them to small business investment companies.
The two agencies will hold a business forum to match SBICs with disadvantaged businesses and facilitate investment discussions between companies and fund managers.
Other steps to ensure equitable procurement opportunities are increasing the contracting goal for small disadvantaged businesses from 5 percent to 15 percent by 2025 and executing changes to the government’s use of category management.
