SBA Releases FY25 Scorecard for Small Business Contracting

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the results of its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 federal procurement scorecard, which measures how well federal agencies meet their small business contracting goals each year. In FY25, the Trump Administration exceeded the statutory federal contracting goal of 23% by awarding nearly 28% of all prime federal contracts to small businesses, representing a $179 billion investment in the small business economy. Including both prime contracts and subcontracts, the Trump Administration awarded nearly $273 billion in federal contracts to small businesses.

“Over the past year, President Trump’s SBA worked diligently to end Biden-era DEI abuses, expel bad actors, and be a good steward of taxpayer dollars across the vast federal contracting system,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. “Our crackdown is opening the door for small businesses to compete on merit, win on performance, and reclaim the opportunities that improper, politicized practices once put out of reach. Now, as the SBA scorecard shows, a historic share of federal contracting dollars is reaching qualified American small businesses that are delivering for taxpayers, creating jobs, and driving economic growth. We will continue to work across the federal government to support these programs for legitimate small businesses, while we root out waste, fraud, and abuse of government contracting.”

Small business prime contracts supported an estimated 793,400 jobs in manufacturing, construction, research and development, technology, defense, and other vital industries. Small business subcontracts supported an additional 418,000 jobs, helping fuel economic growth and job creation.   

FY25 small business procurement and investment reflects Administration priorities, including the SBA’s ongoing effort to end DEI and fraud within the 8(a) Business Development Program – the no-bid contracting program for ‘socially and economically’ disadvantaged individuals. The program dramatically expanded during the Biden Administration as a vehicle for partisan and DEI preferences in federal contracting, as the last Administration approved 2,100 new 8(a) firms compared with just 65 approved to date under the Trump Administration. 

Under the leadership of Administrator Loeffler, the SBA launched the first audit of the 8(a) program in its nearly 50-year history and initiated termination proceedings to remove nearly 800 8(a) firms from the program after they failed to meet program requirements or refused to turn over financial documents for review by the agency. Most recently, the agency submitted a proposed rule to dismantle the race-based admissions framework that effectively barred Americans from accessing contracting opportunities on the basis of race.

As a result of this fraud and abuse crackdown, and in the effort to eliminate discriminatory DEI contracting practices, the Trump Administration awarded just 3.7% of all prime contracts to 8(a) firms in FY25, accounting for $24.3 billion in awards — a decrease of $1.5 billion from the prior fiscal year. This marks the largest decrease in 8(a) contracting in over 10 years, consistent with the Administration’s overarching commitment to awarding federal contracts on the basis of merit — not race or political affiliation. Although the federal government still exceeded its overall Small Disadvantaged Business contracting goal in FY25, awarding 11.6% of prime contracting dollars, or $75.3 billion, to SDBs, that share declined from 12.27% in FY24 — the first decrease in 10 years.

The FY25 scorecard also highlights the Administration’s deliberate investment in priority small business categories, with particular emphasis on expanding opportunities for veteran-owned firms that were deprioritized during the Biden Administration in favor of “socially disadvantaged” small businesses. Last November, SBA cleared a Biden-era backlog of more than 2,700 Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) applications which accumulated after the prior Administration diverted all resources away from VetCert to increase certification approvals for the 8(a) program. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) received $32.5 billion in prime contracts, or over the 5% target for federal prime contracts.

The SBA plays a crucial role in setting contracting goals for each agency and collaborates closely with government buyers to prioritize small businesses in the procurement process. Three federal agencies received A+ grades, and an additional 13 agencies received an A grade. Overall, the federal government earned an A on this year’s government-wide scorecard.  This year’s A+ agencies are the U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Individual agency scorecards with a detailed explanation of the methodology are available at SBA.gov/scorecard.

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About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.