Many GovCon experts and contributors say the government’s presentation of award allocation is misleading insofar as representing the accuracy of dollars awarded to reach set-aside goals. The whole discussion is enough to make even the savviest of GovCons’ heads spin. But for those of us relying on this information to promote whether it is in the best interest of a business to further engage in the federal marketplace, it can be downright discouraging.
Contract Vehicles and Small Businesses
Misconceptions in Procurement Scorecards
Furthering the discussion with data on the dollars, according to one of our favorite GovCon gurus, Guy Timberlake of the American Small Business Coalition, the math the SBA uses to grade itself with the annual scorecard that analyzes set-asides for small business is way off. Timberlake writes, “That’s because you didn’t account for the double and triple-dipping across socioeconomic designations. Only in Small Business Procurement Scorecard math does 1+1=6. That’s right, one dollar is counted as many as three times, one for small business, one for 8(a), and one for Woman-owned.”
Timberlake continues, “And for everyone vying for their SBA 8(a) certification, the Small Business Data Hub shows $24 B obligated to 8(a) companies, which includes dollars not awarded because they were 8(a). That’s a little more than 2% of all dollars SBA says were awarded as set-aside. FPDS show’s $10.2 B in set-aside and sole-source awards to 8(a) companies. That’s less than 1% of all dollars to small businesses via set-asides.”
Point is, the goal is to identify your buyers and cultivate a relationship to share how what you do best is the resource they need now to support their mission. If you are confident in what you do and do the research to zero in on where you are most effective, your award dollars will follow.