From: http://www.bizjournals.com/

It looks like the federal government met its goal of awarding 23 percent of its procurement dollars to small businesses for the third year in a row.
That’s according to John Shoroka, who heads the Small Business Administration’s office of government contracting and business development. Final numbers aren’t available for fiscal 2015, which ended Sept. 30, but Shoroka told the House Small Business Committee Wednesday afternoon that preliminary data indicate the goal was met.

Hitting the goal should be routine — it’s not an arbitrary number; it’s a target established by Congress. But from 2006 to 2012, the federal government failed to reach it. As a result, small businesses missed out on billions of dollars in potential contracts.

The federal government also, for the first time, appears to have met its goal of awarding 5 percent of its prime contracting dollars to women-owned businesses in 2015, Shoroka said. Plus, agencies also hit their contracting goals for minority-owned businesses and businesses owned by service-disabled businesses.
That leaves the Hubzone program, which gives contracting preferences to businesses located in low-income areas, as the only small business contracting program that has yet to hit its target.
Despite Shoroka’s progress report, committee members say the SBA still is falling short on making sure small businesses get their fair share of government contracts.

Rep. Mark Takai, D-Hawaii, is concerned that the number of small businesses participating in federal contracting is declining. As a result, fewer small businesses share in the growing percentage of procurement dollars going to small businesses.
Shoroka agreed that is a concern. In an attempt to save money, federal agencies are combining more of their requirements into larger contracts that are too complex for many small businesses, he said. The SBA is working with procurement officials on new rules that will allow small businesses to team up to go after large contracts, he said.
The agency also wants to make sure that contracting programs for small businesses have “on and off ramps” so that government contractors that outgrow them graduate and make room for new entrants, Shoroka said.
It’s also working on regulations to expand mentor-protege programs, where large businesses help smaller firms compete for federal contracts and subcontracts.

The House Small Business Committee thinks the SBA should do more to ensure that more small businesses get a shot at federal contracts. It notes that the agency has only 50 procurement center representatives working to identify federal contract opportunities for small businesses.
That number is “clearly insufficient,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York, the committee’s ranking Democrat.
Shoroka said SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet has authorized hired him to hire 10 additional PCRs, but the committee wants the agency to spend more on government contracting programs and less on new programs, such as regional innovation clusters, thatduplicate other government programs.