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Month: February 2024

SBA aims to boost Black Business Dollars

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) aims to boost federal contracting dollars for Black businesses through an upgraded government contract training program and other initiatives. The agency is revitalizing its SBA 7(j) Training Program, now known as Empower to Grow (E2G), to enhance small, disadvantaged businesses’ readiness for federal contracting, as stated in a recent SBA press release. (Black Enterprise February 5, 2024)

This revamped program coincides with the release of new data from fiscal years 2022 and 2021, indicating record-breaking federal contracting dollars for small businesses across various demographics, including an uptick in contracting dollars for Small Disadvantaged Businesses. (ibid)

In line with these efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has announced measures to broaden small business access to federal contracts, recognizing the federal government’s significant purchasing power globally. The White House specifically acknowledges the E2G program when discussing strategies to bolster support for small businesses and ultimately building wealth in underserved communities. (ibid)

President Joe Biden has set an ambitious goal of allocating 15% of federal prime contracting to small, disadvantaged businesses (SDB) by fiscal year 2025, potentially injecting $100 billion into minority-owned and underserved businesses. (ibid)

The SBA underscores that the E2G program represents just one facet of comprehensive efforts by the Biden-Harris administration and the SBA to achieve the SDB goal. Already, these efforts have resulted in a half-billion-dollar increase in federal contracts awarded to Black-owned small businesses in 2023. (ibid)

SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman emphasizes the role of small business growth in job creation and community strengthening, highlighting the administration’s commitment to equity and a level playing field for all small business owners. (ibid)

Despite progress, disparities persist, with Black-owned small businesses receiving $9.5 billion from federal contracts in 2022, up $490 million from 2021, while Native Americans captured $19 billion, up $1.62 billion from the previous year. However, these figures pale in comparison to the almost $163 billion spent on all federal contracts that year.(ibid)

Acknowledging these disparities, the SBA is actively addressing barriers to entry for Black businesses in securing government contracts. Additional resources are being allocated to assist more disadvantaged business owners, including Black firms, in overcoming these barriers. (ibid)

Program enhancements to E2G include customizable one-on-one coaching and expanded offerings tailored to the needs of Black-owned firms, with the aim of facilitating connections with state and local contracting opportunities.(ibid)

E2G will introduce new tools to access $2 trillion in state and local bid opportunities, further bridging the gap for Black-owned firms seeking state and local contracting opportunities. (ibid)

The SBA emphasizes that the program’s impact on contracting dollars for Black-owned businesses hinges on participation, with the bid win rate expected to rise due to the heightened emphasis on added E2G resources. (ibid)

Would you like to know more about the program enhancements, one-on-one coaching and expanded offerings of E2G? Give us a call.

GSA streamlines and saves you time

The General Services Administration (GSA) appears to have successfully modernized its catalog management system for the Advantage! program. (Federal News Network February 5, 2024)

GSA is increasing the user base of the new FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) after a successful trial period with Office Supplies 4 vendors. (ibid)

Mike Shepherd, the director of GSA’s catalog management office, explains the significant improvements of the FCP over the previous SIP system. He states that the FCP, replacing SIP, offers new features benefiting suppliers, acquisition workforce, and customers. It integrates with e-modification, capturing catalog updates and automating publishing modifications to GSA Advantage!. This greatly reduces the time it takes for vendors to add new products and delete items. It saves vendors an averge of 34 days by adding the products to their catalogs. Catalog deletions take place within 1 to 2 days of a modication submitted by the contractor, whereas it was common for it to take 10 or more days to delete products prior to the improvements. (ibid)

In addition to addressing long-standing issues, the platform includes automated data validation, a central hub for catalog actions, access to catalog history and a shared user interface. (ibid)

GSA plans to add more users and initiate a pilot for professional services on the platform. In addition, GSA aims to migrate the majority of Advantage! catalogs to the new platform by fiscal year-end. The plan also includes expanding the catalog platform to services contractors later this year, aiming for a simplified submission process. (ibid)

The new catalog is part of a broader effort to modernize GSA Advantage!, including consolidating schedules and updating user tools and backend systems, that both run and feed Advantage!. (ibid)

GSA will continue to gather feedback from users to address challenges and ensure ongoing improvement.(ibid)

Questions about the FCP improvements and how they might affect your contract? Give us a call.