A HigherGov analysis of government contracting activity found that federal contracts awarded to small businesses reached a record high of $158.7 billion in fiscal year 2022.
The market research company reported Monday the figure reflects a 3 percent increase from $153.8 billion in FY 2021 small business awards.
According to the report, only 58,681 small businesses secured prime government contracts in 2022, less than half the total number of small companies that received government awards in 2010, which was about 121,270.
HigherGov attributed the continued long-term decline in the number of such businesses securing government contracts to contract bundling, expanding cybersecurity regulations and increased use of contract vehicles available to a limited number of companies.
Fiscal 2022 showed declining and stagnating awards to such businesses amid the Biden administration’s efforts to boost government contract spending on women- and minority-owned small businesses through executive orders and reforms.
The number of women-owned small businesses that secured prime contract awards dropped from 16.9 percent to 16.4 percent of the total amount of awards obligated to small businesses in 2022, the report noted.
HigherGov said the government can help small businesses to gain more access to federal projects by publicly releasing federal contract opportunities, minimizing contract bundling and increasing funding and support to programs like the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program.
