Administration announcement follows months of advocacy from the Voices community to level the playing field for small businesses in the federal contracting process

Following months of advocacy from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices (10KSBV) community, the Biden-Harris administration today announced important changes in how federal agencies utilize and engage with small businesses in procurement processes. The changes will allow small businesses to more fairly compete with larger businesses for federal contracts, a nearly $700 billion industry.

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices National Leadership Council Chair Jessica Johnson-Cope, a small business owner, and Joe Wall, national director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices program, released the following statements on behalf of more than 10,000 U.S. small business owners.

“Small businesses don’t want a handout; we want a fair shot. Opportunities for procurement help small businesses generate economic growth in communities across the United States. This a big step toward leveling the playing field for small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts,” Jessica Johnson-Cope said. “On behalf of the 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community, we thank the Biden administration for hearing our call to modernize this outdated process.”

“Obscure and burdensome regulations all too often serve as barriers to small business success when they are competing with bigger businesses for federal contracts,” Joe Wall said. “This is a nearly $700 billion industry, and reforms like this have a meaningful impact. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is proud to have been a part of the advocacy efforts that led to this announcement and will continue to lead the way toward further reforms on behalf of small business owners.”

A fact sheet provided by the Biden-Harris administration announcing reforms to increase equity and level the playing field for underserved small business owners can be found here.

About Our Policy Work

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices and the Bipartisan Policy Center partnered over the last year to identify ways to expand small business participation in federal contracting. Policy recommendations have been developed with input from small business owners about their experience in the federal procurement marketplace. According to the report, “the number of small businesses providing common products and services to the federal government shrank by 38% from 2010 to 2019. Even more dramatically, the number of small businesses entering the procurement marketplace as new entrants declined by 79% from 2005 to 2019.”

GovExec recently reported that, “Representatives of the [10KSBV] initiative sent a letter to Congress and the Biden administration last month suggesting procurement reforms to better help small businesses in federal contracting, particularly those that are women- and minority-owned and located in economically distressed areas.” As reported in The Hill, “The [10KSBV] initiative has also helped small business owners meet with Biden Cabinet officials, efforts that have already appeared to pay off. Biden’s [recent] executive order…directs federal agencies to ‘promote greater competition through their procurement and spending decisions’ to give a boost to small businesses.” Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices regularly releases surveys on the economic state of small businesses in the United States to help inform policymakers. The survey “found a widening gender gap for contracts at the federal level that shows how women-owned small businesses have been shut out from the largest contracts,” reported The 19th News.

About Jessica Johnson-Cope

Jessica Johnson-Cope is Chair of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices National Leadership Council. She is the owner and president of Johnson Security Bureau, Inc., a third-generation, family-owned security services firm based in the Bronx, New York that employs more than 150 people. Johnson-Cope proudly serves as a small business advocate, particularly promoting issues that are critical to minority and women entrepreneurs. She is a member of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and has spoken at forums for the White House Office of Engagement, the New York Times “She Owns It” business group blog, Black Enterprise, and Inc. Magazine. She graduated from the inaugural class of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative at LaGuardia Community College in 2010.

About 10,000 Small Businesses Voices

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices is an initiative for program participants to organize and advocate for policies that matter to them. It builds on Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, which over the past decade has provided access to education, capital, and support services to more than 10,000 small business owners across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. More information about the initiative and its work can be found here.

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