The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) conducts an annual assessment of each Federal agency’s efforts to award contracts to U.S. small businesses. The assessment is referred to as the Small Business Procurement Scorecard.

The SBA defines a small business as one that is independently owned and operated, organized for profit, and that is not dominant in its field. Depending on the industry, size standard eligibility is based on the average number of employees for the preceding twelve months or on sales volume averaged over a three-year period. Please visit SBA’s website www.sba.gov for additional information regarding size standards.

USAID negotiates an annual worldwide small business goal with the SBA. The Agency takes the process a step further by establishing internal small business goals for its Bureaus and Independent Offices in Washington, D.C., and overseas Missions. USAID’s latest scorecard assessment may be viewed on the SBA's Goaling Program web page. The following is USAID’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 small business goals:

• USAID Prime Small Business Goal 12.51 percent
• USAID Subcontracting Small Business Goal 16.00 percent

Small business socio-economic program prime and subcontracting goals:

• 8(a) Program/Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) 5.00 percent
• Women Owned Small Business (WOSB)5.00 percent
• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) 3.00 percent
• Historically Underutilized Small Business Zone (HUBZone) 3.00 percent