The U.S. Agency for International Development received an A grade from the Small Business Administration for awarding contracts to small businesses, the Washington Business Journal reports.According to Jill Aitoro’s story, the SBA gave USAID the A rating in its fiscal year 2011 scorecard, where the SBA grades agencies on contracting activity with small businesses.
USAID received a C for fiscal 2010 and an F for fiscal 2009, Aitoro reports.
For fiscal 2011, USAID awarded 13.74 percent of contracts to small businesses, totaling $184 million and exceeding its goal of awarding 11 percent of contracts to small businesses, SBA says.
USAID prime contractors awarded small businesses 22.9 percent, or $69 million, in subcontract awards during fiscal 2011.
However, Aitoro reports the governmentwide goal for small business contract awards is 23 percent and in 2009 that number was 20 percent.
Also, the fiscal 2011 numbers for USAID only reflect domestic awards, nearly a quarter of the agency’s contracts, while that agency awards between $4 billion and $5 billion in overseas contracts per year, Aitoro reports.
