Small businesses awarded record number of federal contracts

Awarding of federal contracts to small businesses has hit an all-time high, statistics show.

Small businesses won $96.8 billion overall in federal prime contracts for the fiscal year 2009, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Procurement Scorecard. This represents 21.9 percent of all federal spending - an increase of more than $3 billion from the previous year.

Women-owned small businesses received 3.7 percent of federal contracts, falling below its 5 percent goal. However, small disadvantaged businesses well surpassed that number and received 7.6 percent of contracts.

"Federal contracts awarded to small businesses are a 'win-win' – providing small businesses with the opportunity to grow and create jobs, and offering innovative services and essential goods to the government at great value to the taxpayers," SBA administrator Karen Mills said.

The government is required by law to track efforts to give contracts to women and minority-owned businesses, as well as those in economically distressed areas, known as historically underutilized business zones.