Region 6 tops small business spend

October 30, 2020

By Alison Kohler

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In a year where spending with small businesses was bound to take a hit, GSA Region 6 managed to top last year and exceed all of its individual small business goals. 

In fiscal year 2020, GSA directly infused nearly $137 million into Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas small businesses, spending $1.5 million more than in fiscal year 2019.

“Contracting officers have the ultimate responsibility and determination on awarding contracts, so all the success and congratulations go to them and all their hard work,” said Bill Strobel, regional small business technical advisor in GSA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. “These awards have created a huge impact on the small businesses in our region.”

The region also exceeded GSA’s goals for the percentage of spend that goes to small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and HUBZone small businesses.

“We weren’t assigned goals at a regional level, so our goal is to try and assist our agency, as a whole, in achieving the SBA-assigned goals,” Strobel said.

The regional Federal Acquisition Service and Public Buildings Service combined to “substantially overachieve the goals, and the results were tremendous for the small business community,” Strobel said.

“All of us in FAS are really proud of the Heartland Acquisition Center and Assisted Acquisition Services contracting officers, specialists and those who supported them this year,” said Procurement Analyst Katie A. Boresow. “The COs are all really dedicated to small business achievement and prioritize that throughout the acquisition process.”

Clutch performance in HUBZone awards

In the last week of the fiscal year, PBS made substantial awards to HUBZone small businesses, which brought up the regional spend to 4.2%, exceeding the 3% goal for HUBZones, according to Strobel.

“Region 6, PBS and GSA exceeded all of its small business goals in FY20,” PBS Deputy Regional Commissioner and Acquisition Management Division Director David Rumsey wrote in an online forum. “Outstanding work from R6 AMD!”

GSA negotiated greater spend through subcontracting plans

This year also marked a noteworthy achievement in how small businesses get in on large contract awards as subcontractors of large business prime contractors. Some contracts require large businesses to provide a subcontracting plan with percentages of the overall contract dollars to be spent with small businesses through subcontracted work.

Region 6 successfully negotiated 52 subcontracting plan increases in FY20, Strobel said. These negotiations on large business subcontracting plans represented an additional $416 million to flow from GSA through large businesses into small businesses.

Small businesses are ‘backbone’ of American economy

“Small businesses are considered the backbone of the American economy,” Strobel said. “Small businesses account for a large percentage of new job creation, and they spur innovation and competition.” 

In a year with multiple emergencies and disasters, including a worldwide pandemic causing critical shortages of personal protective equipment and health care supplies, the U.S. depended on its small businesses.

“Small business development and growth has been critical to the U.S. in the form of domestic manufacturing, which is critical to our industrial base, especially for national defense and in responding to emergencies and disasters,” Strobel said.

GSA puts small businesses first

PBS AMD Program Analyst Sara Strickland passed along her appreciation for the way GSA continues to put small businesses first.

“Congrats to all for your hard work and dedication to supporting small businesses,” she wrote in the online forum.