The Department of Defense met the 23% small business goal in Fiscal Year 2014, and also exceeded the 3% SDVOSB goal.

Although the SBA’s 2014 Procurement Scorecard will not be released until sometime next summer, a recent DoD press release announced the DoD’s small business successes for 2014.

According to the press release, the DoD awarded approximately $53 billion to small businesses in FY 2014, amounting to 23 percent of the DoD’s prime contracts. The DoD exceeded its 2013 results, both in terms of dollars and percentages.  Per the SBA’s 2013 Procurement Scorecard, the DoD awarded just 21.09% of prime contract dollars ($48.3 billion) to small businesses in FY 2013.  The DoD also significantly increased its SDVOSB contracting.  In FY 2013, the DoD awarded only 2.2% of prime contract dollars to SDVOSBs.

The DoD is by far the largest procuring agency, and should be commended for increasing its commitment to small businesses and SDVOSBs.  Hopefully, the DoD will continue to prioritize small business and SDVOSB awards in the new fiscal year–and work to improve its numbers with respect to WOSBs, HUBZones, and SDBs.