As many of you know, agencies have found it difficult over time to meet their Small- business contracting goals. For example, $6.4 billion fewer contracting dollars were awarded to small businesses in fiscal 2011 versus what had been awarded in 2010. The decrease meant that 21.65 percent of Federal contracting dollars went to small businesses, while in 2010 the percentage was 22.7 percent - just under the Federal contracting goal of 23 percent overall. The concerns have been great, especially during these increasingly budget conscious times. Fortunately, it appears the Woman Owned Small Business (WOSBs) will gain greater access to Federal contracts due to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The act removes caps limiting the size of a contract award that can be made to small businesses owned by woman. Previously, WOSBs could not bid on contracts whose value was in excess of “$6.5 million for manufacturing contracts and $4 million for all other contracts.” WOSBs make up 30 percent of all small businesses today. Moreover, during fiscal 2011 agencies awarded $16.8 billion to WOSBs, or 3.98 percent – well under their 5 percent goal. Now WOSBs will be able to compete more freely for Federal work. Coupled with the Small Business Administration’s Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, agencies are hoping their small-business contracting goals will be more attainable.

On Tuesday, January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the military spending budget, which isgood news for small businesses selling to the Federal government. The goal is for Federal agencies to have 23% of awarded contracts go to small businesses, which has been a problem for the Federal government.

On December 27, 2012 the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the first company to become FedRAMP certified as Autonomic Resources. The approval came from the Joint Authorization Board (JAB), which is consisting of the CIO’s from GSA, DoD, and DHS.

The House is calling for the small business contracting goal to be increased, while the Senate is not. That is one of the differences in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Some see the increase as a moot point, because the current goal is not being met. Despite this, the House is pushing for a 2 percent increase, from 23 percent to 25 percent. The two bills passed by each chamber will now be attempted to be resolved by deliberations set to begin this week. Some expect see the increase the House is pushing for, as a glass holding no water. They do not see how the increase will benefit small companies. Guy Timberlake, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at the American Small Business Coalition, is quoted saying:

As of recently, no cloud solution provider has been endorsed by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). Run by the GSA, FedRAMP is designed to assist in closing costly federal data centers and outsourcing network operations to shared cloud providers, thereby reducing expenditures and increasing technical flexibility. FedRAMP provides a security evaluation that certifies cloud providers in being able to adequately and safely manage electronic federal data. By gaining the FedRAMP approval vendors can offer their cloud services for immediate use in any government agency. However, due to confusion and a slow evaluation process, no vendors have been endorsed by FedRAMP to date.

According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for the third year in a row, Federal contract spending decreased. While spending $537 billion in contracts in fiscal year 2011, the government spent just $513 billion in fiscal 2012, marking the largest single-year dollar decrease on record. The decreases are a result of a “concerted and collaborative effort on behalf of all the agencies,” said Joe Jordan, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Recent actions indicate the government has undoubtedly moved away from the increasing period between 2000 and 2008. The Federal government even surpassed its goal of reaching a 15% reduction on management and support services by the end of fiscal 2012. The OMB has created a leadership council in which all agencies will have a designated official responsible for the new cost cutting initiatives. Within the agenda the OMB has also developed the Interagency Strategic Sourcing Leadership Council whose first task is to recommend to the administration management strategies that will ensure government procurement of the best possible pricing and quality goods, services, commodities, and contracts. Though concerns exist on whether the newfound council will be more bureaucracy, the OMB should now be a willing partner in the legislative reform effort in which progress is finally being made to resolve the inefficient and wasteful government contracts.