Biden-Harris administration offers new tools to help federal agencies find more diverse suppliers and promote equity in procurement

May 8, 2023

Washington – The US General Services Administration (GSA) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released two resources for federal agencies to promote procurement equity: Government-wide procurement equity tool (Government account required) and Supplier base dashboard. Launched earlier this spring, these tools help agencies find businesses new to the federal marketplace, identify qualified vendors, and track progress toward equity in procurement goals.

“These two tools are designed to help agencies better connect with the diverse businesses that offer their products in the federal marketplace. We’re creating a better user experience while helping the government buy high-quality goods and services at a better price,” he said. GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “By providing our federal partners with more information when making procurement decisions, we can better prepare ourselves to meet our contracting goals and create greater fairness in the marketplace for everyone.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the federal contract spending goal for disadvantaged small businesses has increased to 15% by 2025. These tools support the achievement of the goal by increasing procurement opportunities for the following.

• Small Affected Businesses (SDBs)
• Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs);
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), and
• Historically unused business zone (HUBZone) small businesses

“We are committed to helping the procurement workforce strengthen its dominance and efficiency in the federal procurement process, while at the same time enhancing equity,” he said. Matthew Bloom, OMB’s associate administrator for the Office of Federal Acquisition Policy.. We can leverage procurement power as a catalyst to address our nation’s priorities.

The two new devices are supported Executive Order 13985, Promoting racial equity and underserved communities through the federal government; Executive Order 14091furthering racial equity and underserved communities through the federal government; OMB Memorandum M-22-03promoting equity in federal procurement; And OMB Memorandum M-23-11Creating a more diverse and resilient federal marketplace by increasing the participation of new and recent entrants.

Tool Summaries:

• of Government-wide procurement equity tool Uses dynamic data from SAM.gov and the Federal Procurement Information System to support market research focusing on SDBs. Federal customers can use the tool to find SDBs by location, business type, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code, and product service code. Agencies may also contact new entrants, such as SDBs, who are registered in SAM.gov but have not yet received a federal award. GSA developed a governmentwide procurement equity tool using human-centered design and agile methodology. Based on user feedback, several improvements have been added to improve functionality and usability, such as list-based views and context for additional data elements.

• of Supplier base dashboard Tracks the total number of entities that have done business with the agency; their size and socio-economic status; and the number of new, recent and established sellers by supplier base and market categories and demand categories. This helps federal managers grow the economy from the bottom up and from the middle by measuring their growth by increasing the number of new entrants into the federal marketplace. It capitalizes on our nation’s entrepreneurial spirit, which has led to an all-time high in applications for new small businesses in the US.

“Small businesses bring tremendous value to GSA by helping us deliver more efficiently and effectively to the American people,” he said. Exodie C. Roe III, Associate Administrator for GSA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. “We need to support small and medium businesses by making sure they have access to the opportunities they deserve in federal procurement.”

Both tools have user guides and workshops for agencies to learn and share ideas on ways to use them. Federal agencies can provide feedback on the tools through this Survey form.

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About GSAGSA provides centralized procurement and shared services to the federal government, manages a nationwide real estate portfolio of approximately 370 million leasable square feet, oversees approximately $75 billion in annual contracts, and provides technology services that serve millions of people across multiple federal agencies. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best customer experience and value to government and the American people through real estate, procurement and technology services. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us on @USGSA.