The federal government spends about $250 billion a year on goods and services, and Missouri businesses sell many of the products the government needs. But small businesses often struggle to compete with large businesses in order to sell their products and services to the federal government. A new report released by the Department of Defense (DoD), one of the largest federal purchasing agents, contains some positive news for small businesses trying to gain a share of federal procurement contracts.

DoD's Annual Report on Procurement from Small Businesses and Other Business Firms shows that contract and subcontract awards to small businesses increased slightly during fiscal year 2003.

Making sure that small businesses have the opportunity to compete and win government contracts is good for the small business sector, but it is good for American taxpayers as well.

Small businesses contribute significantly to the U.S. industrial base by offering innovative technology and quality supplies and services at reasonable prices.

Prime contract awards to U.S. small business concerns in 2003 totaled $42 billion, compared with $33.3 billion for 2002. Defense awards to all U.S. business firms totaled $187.5 billion during 2003, compared with $157.1 billion during 2002. Of the $187.5 billion awarded by DoD to all U.S. business concerns during 2003, 22.4 percent of the awards were made to small business concerns, versus 21.2 percent in 2002.

The increase is attributed to greater small business participation in acquisitions related to ships, services, construction, commercial items, and other major hard goods.

For 2003, large business prime contractors reported subcontracts totaling $86.5 billion, of which $32 billion or 37 percent was awarded to U.S. small businesses. This compares to fiscal year 2002 subcontracts totaling $75.5 billion, of which $25.8 billion or 34.1 percent was awarded to small business concerns.

Learning how to do business with the federal government can be a daunting prospect, particularly for small businesses. The Missouri Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO PTAC) can help businesses learn how to navigate through government red tape.

If you would like to learn about federal contracting opportunities or would like to find out about other assistance available to small businesses, I encourage you to contact the Small Business Development Center at Central Missouri State University.

The Center can be reached by phone at (660) 543-4402, by fax at (660) 543-8159, or by e-mail, sbdc@cmsu1.cmsu.edu.

Additional information regarding small business procurement opportunities with DoD may also be found at DoD's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Web site at www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu.