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For years, the federal government has failed to meet the provisions of the Small Business Act that require agencies to meet statutory government-wide goals for government contracting. Each year, the contract report required by law demonstrates that agencies continue to fall short of their "goals."
NAGC would argue that part of the problem is terminology. A goal implies that there is a direction in which agencies should target their efforts and that they should aspire to reach the established benchmarks. However, the word statutory is often overlooked when discussed procurement goals. The word statutory reinforces the concept that these goals are authorized and prescribed in law; in other areas of the government or in the private sector, failure to meet a statutory requirement can be legally punishable.
Section 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act states that all small businesses should have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in providing goods and services to the government. To ensure that small businesses get their fair share, the SBA negotiates annual procurement preference goals with each Federal agency and reviews each agency's results. The SBA is responsible for ensuring that the statutory government-wide goals are met in the aggregate.
Those statutory goals are:
- Twenty-three (23) percent of prime contracts for small businesses;
- Five (5) percent of prime and subcontracts for small disadvantaged businesses;
- Five (5) percent of prime and subcontracts for women-owned small businesses;
- Three (3) percent of prime contracts for HUBZone small businesses;
- Three (3) percent of prime and subcontracts for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
The government has interpreted the law as though it is an admirable goal - not a statutory requirement. The National Association of Government Contractors continues to support strict enforcement of the 23 percent small-business contracting goal mandated by Congress and believes that small businesses must be allowed to compete for the billions of dollars spent by the federal government to procure goods and services. While efforts to increase the statutory limits, we also believe that the federal government must be required to meet the existing requirements of the law and that small businesses and contractors would benefit significantly if the federal government were held more accountable to meeting the existing statutory goals.
