DOT earns "A" in annual Small Business Scorecard

Last week, the Small Business Administration released its fourth annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard, with ratings for 24 federal agencies in prime and subprime contracting to small businesses.

I am pleased to announce the Department of Transportation has earned an "A" rating for the fourth consecutive year. We also tallied the second highest overall score for our accomplishments in supporting small business contracting in 2009 and for our current efforts. For both achievements, I would like to thank our Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and its Director, Brandon Neal.

During the recent recession, public and private-sector leaders have stated repeatedly that small businesses are America's engine of growth, and SBA's scorecard is a way of measuring how well agencies are using federal contracts to fuel that engine. This year's scorecard demonstrates that DOT is supporting the small business community with a consistent commitment.

As Director Neal said, "It takes a dedicated team, led by Secretary LaHood, the modal administrators, procurement officers, small business specialists, and our regional offices to achieve this level of success over the past four years."

The annual Scorecard rates federal agencies in meeting the overall small business goal and the component contracting goals for small and disadvantaged businesses, small businesses in HUBZones, and small businesses owned by women and service-disabled veterans. DOT exceeded our goals for four out of five of these categories, outpacing the federal government as a whole in each.

For example, nearly 39% of all DOT prime contracts went to small businesses. That more than meets our goal of 37% and far exceeds the government-wide achievement of 21.89%.

DOT's prime contracting achievement for 2009

Announcing the latest Scorecard, SBA Administrator Karen Mills said, "Federal contracts awarded to small businesses are a ‘win-win,’ providing small businesses with the opportunity to grow and create jobs, and offering innovative services and essential goods to the government at great value to the taxpayers.”

Well, this DOT is absolutely committed to that "win-win," and our scorecard performance indicates that we have in place a structure that transforms that commitment into results. By providing the small business community access to opportunities and ensuring that contracting officers connect with these innovative small companies, DOT is leading the way.

Comments

[Car Wraps]

I am delighted that the DOT is doing its share of supporting small business but aren't the other government agencies mandated to perform as well as the DOT? Small business are the lifeblood of our country and in my opinion are our best hope of getting past these economic troubles. I applaud the secretary and the DOT leadership for their support of small business initiatives . Great work Mr. Ray :)