SBA Delaware awarded its ‘Frank J. Masley Small Business Champion Award’ to the Delaware Division of Small Business, lauding its tireless support to the Delaware small business community as it navigated COVID-19’s impact.

“SBA Delaware’s ‘Frank J. Masley Small Business Champion Award’ was created in honor of the late Delawarean Frank J. Masley, an entrepreneur, community advocate, and former Olympian,” explained SBA Delaware Director Michelle Harris. “Each year, SBA Delaware’s Masley Award winner exemplifies the commitment, heart, and drive that Frank Masley brought to his work and the positive impact that he had on Delaware’s small business community.”  

SBA Delaware staff nominates and finally selects ‘Frank J. Masley Small Business Champion Award’ honorees. The award is presented annually during SBA Delaware’s Small Business Awards celebration in May, in conjunction with National Small Business Week. Previous Masley Award winners were: Robert O’Brien, Delaware SCORE counselor; Michelle Morin, Delaware Office of Supplier Diversity Executive Director; and Michael J. Bowman, Delaware Small Business Development Center State Director.

Frank Masley, three-time Olympic athlete and ten-time National Champion in the sport of Luge, founded specialty glove manufacturer Masley Enterprises with his wife, Donna Masley, in 2000 in Wilmington, Delaware,. Masley Enterprises produces gloves suited for military, law enforcement and police use, as well as recreation snow and ski sports, hunting and motorcycling. Today, Masley Glove is located in the Wilmington, Del.’s Eastside community, and employs those with challenged backgrounds. Frank Masley was recognized as SBA Delaware’s 2010 ‘Small Business Person of the Year. In 2014, the firm was recognized by President Obama’s Champion of Change awards for providing employment opportunities to those with challenged backgrounds. In his lifetime, Frank Masley supported efforts like the Community Benefits Agreement for Eastside Wilmington, the Made in America Act, the Delaware Greenway through Wilmington, and local park clean-ups.

Highlights: One Million Small Business Jobs Created, Small Disadvantaged Business Goal Achieved a Year Ahead of Schedule

In FY2021, the federal government exceeded its small business federal contracting goal, awarding 27.2 percent or $154.2 billion in federal contract dollars to small businesses, an $8 billion increase from the previous fiscal year. 

The share of contracts going to small businesses equates to 27.2 percent of total federal contracting funds. Combined with $72 billion in subprime contracting goals, this historic spend has supported over one million jobs in the American economy. 

Overall, the federal government exceeded its goal of 23 percent in prime contract dollars and earned an “A” on this year’s government-wide Scorecard.  Eleven federal agencies earned an “A+” for their agencies’ achievements in small business contracting, and an additional ten agencies received an “A” grade. SBA sets contracting goals for each agency and works with government buyers to ensure that they prioritize small businesses.

“The Biden-Harris Administration set historic records in small business contracting, including the highest percentage spend to Small Disadvantaged Businesses and growth for our Service-disabled Veteran Small Businesses, which has advanced competition, strengthened local economies, and supported job growth across the nation,” said Administrator Guzman. “By expanding small business opportunities and building equity in federal procurement, we have helped to ensure that federal agencies can fully leverage the extraordinary talent and innovation delivered by our nation’s entrepreneurs. Building on the major procurement reforms announced last year; the SBA will continue to further progress in all federal procurement goals so more entrepreneurs can grow their businesses with government contracts, including those presented by President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”

“These small business contracts represent an incredible impact on the Mid-Atlantic region,“ said SBA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator John Fleming, “infusing more than $53 billion into the economies of DC, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania – the agency’s largest portfolio of federal contractors.  That’s nearly 12,500 companies providing quality, American-Made goods and services and employing thousands of U.S. workers, while advancing innovation and growth.”

“There is no doubt that federal small business spending helps more Americans realize the American dream,” said Michelle Harris, SBA Delaware Deputy  Director. “Here, in Delaware, the federal government spent $175,580,093 with small businesses in FY2021, an influx of funds providing a welcome boost to our local economy.”

This Summer, the individual agency scorecards were released, and a detailed explanation of the methodology is available at SBA.gov. Highlights include: 

• Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) spending reached 11.0 percent for the first time in history. This achieves the President’s committed increase to SDB contracting one year ahead of schedule.  

• Service-disabled Veteran-owned small business spending reached 4.4 percent out of a three percent goal, which represents $25 billion in procurement and an important $1 billion spending increase over the prior year.  

• Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses received a historic $14.3 billion in federal contract awards; although the federal government has never met the 3-percent statutory goal, it reached the highest amount awarded to HUBZone businesses in the program’s history. 

• Women-owned Small Businesses (WOSB) received more than $26 billion for the third straight year, translating to 4.6 percent of the FY21 total eligible dollars. The SBA is actively working with contracting agencies to make future progress toward achieving the WOSB goal. For instance, SBA has increased the number of certified firms from approximately 1,000 to nearly 6,000 and expanded the NAICS codes for which women-owned businesses can receive set-aside awards. Now over 92 percent of federal spending is covered by NAICS codes eligible for WOSB set-aside awards.

• The federal government achieved its small business subcontracting goals, awarding 30.9 percent, or $72 billion, to small-business subcontractors. Women-owned Small Business subcontractors received 5.2% of subcontracts, or $12.2 billion, exceeding the 5 percent WOSB subcontracting goal. 

• Despite the overall increase in the dollar value of small-business awards, the absolute number of small businesses receiving prime contracts with the federal government decreased again in FY21. This continues a multi-year trend of decreases in small-business vendors, dating back over a decade. In December, the government issued a policy memorandum intended to reverse the decline in the small-business supplier base, in part by tracking new entrants to ensure that new government contractors are entering and then finding opportunities in the federal marketplace. 

*The prime contract goal achievements by dollars and percentages for all categories are as follows: 

The SBA continues to collaborate with federal agencies to expand small business opportunities for small business contractors to compete and win federal contracts. The FY2021 Scorecard analyzed the prime contracting and subcontracting performance and other contributing factors, which resulted in an overall “A” grade for the federal government. 

Small Business Federal Procurement Scorecard Overview: 

The annual Procurement Scorecard is an assessment tool to measure how well federal agencies reach their small business and socio-economic prime contracting and subcontracting goals. The Scorecard also provides accurate and transparent contracting data and reports agency-specific progress.  The prime and subcontracting component goals include goals for small businesses, WOSBs, SDBs, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and small businesses located in HUBZones.  

Every year, the SBA works with agencies to set their individual prime and subcontracting goals. The SBA ensures that, in the aggregate, the federal government meets or exceeds the government-wide statutory goals mandated in 15(g)(1) of the Small Business Act in each category.  While each federal agency ensures the quality of its own contracting data, SBA conducts additional analyses to help identify potential data anomalies and with federal agency procurement staff to provide analysis and tools to facilitate a review of data, implement improvements to procurement systems, and conduct training to improve accuracy.