The U.S. Navy will break up five major contracts into smaller awards in fiscal year 2023 to provide small businesses opportunities to compete for contract work, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.
Jimmy Smith, director of the office of small business programs at the Department of the Navy, said the move will help the military branch to meet the objectives of an executive order that seeks to advance equity and racial justice in underserved communities.
Smith said the service has not yet finalized the five contracts that it plans to break into parts due to the continuing resolution.
“I can’t pull the trigger on a new contract and tell you which ones those are that we’re going to break down and break into many parts until we get past the continuing resolution,” Smith told FNN in an interview.
“But we know all the contracts that are sun-setting on the horizon. If they fall into the right time frame, we’re breaking them up into many parts to create opportunities for small businesses, to increase our small business participation,” he added.
According to Smith, about $18.4 billion of the Navy’s prime contract awards went to small businesses in FY 2022, up from more than $17 billion during the previous fiscal year.
