GSA Blog

How GSA Supports Women in Small Business

Small businesses, including women-owned small businesses, form the economic foundation of our economy and are a critical component of government purchasing.

The federal government sets a goal every year to award five percent of federal contracting dollars to small businesses owned by women -- something it’s done for more than 20 years. This goal works to level the playing field in industries where women-owned small businesses and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses are underrepresented. GSA is looking for opportunities to award even more of those dollars to women-owned small businesses, which means buyers across the federal government are looking as well.

Expanding small business opportunities is one of GSA’s top agency priorities. At GSA, we’re working hard to maximize federal procurement opportunities for women-owned small businesses and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses and continue to build from our past success, by:

• Setting aside $354.9 MILLION in GSA contracts for women-owned small businesses in Fiscal Year 2021;
• Awarding more than $561.7 MILLION in GSA contracts WOSBs in FY20; with 10.47 percent of those contracts being prime awards.  

Through its Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, GSA advocates for small, Small-Disadvantaged, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, Historically Underutilized Business Zones, and Women Owned small business owners, engaging in activities that make it possible for the small business community to:

• Meet key contracting experts
• Gain advice about the procurement process
• Discover valuable resources: Training, Forecast of Contracting Opportunities Tool, Federal Procurement Data System

GSA strives to exceed SBA’s procurement goals. We received an A+ from SBA for our FY19 Small Business Procurement Scorecard. This achievement marked the 10th consecutive year where we’ve achieved at least an “A” from SBA for its annual assessment tool. An A+ rating is earned by federal agencies that meet important small business contracting goals and other measures of demonstrated commitment to small business participation in federal contracting.

A healthy small business community helps GSA meet our strategic goal of creating more opportunities. GSA is uniquely positioned to support small businesses across the nation by supporting our federal customer agencies in procuring critical products and services. Additionally, GSA strives to ensure doing business with us is as flexible and agile as possible by simplifying and streamlining processes.

To learn more about GSA’s commitment to the small business community, visit https://www.gsa.gov/small-business.