Celebrating Top Small Business Contractors in FY’23

As we celebrate National Small Business Week, it’s a perfect opportunity to recognize and honor the top small businesses that won federal contracts in Fiscal Year 2023.

In FY’23, the federal government awarded more than $775B in contracts, with $171.5B awarded as small business contracts to 79,116 companies.  Compared to the previous fiscal year, small business contract awards saw a notable increase of $16.7B in FY’23 but a small (< 2%) decrease in the number of companies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Department of Agriculture, GSA, and Defense Agencies collectively represent the top 10 agencies awarding contracts to small businesses, accounting for a significant 80.5% or $138.19B.

As shown below, approximately $58 billion in contracts were awarded as set-asides or sole source contracts, which is approximately 30% of the small business awards.  While it is great to see the 8(a) sole source and competed awards, it will be great to see set-asides for the other socio-economic categories too.

Shifting gears, let’s look at the top government contractors that secured contracts designated for small businesses in FY’23. Most impressive was Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc., which lead the top 10 contractors with $4.55B in dollars obligated and exceeded the second highest by more than 300%. Noble Supply & Logistics, LLC, FCN, Inc., W.S. Darley & Co, Global Military Products, Inc., Thundercat Technology, MinBurn Technology Group, LLC, Four Points Technology, LLC, V3Gate, LLC, and Petromax Refining Company LLC rounded out the top 10 companies in this list.

Among the top 10, it’s inspiring to see Veteran-Owned and Women-Owned Businesses making their mark, notably FCN, Thundercat Technology, Minburn Technology, Four Points, and V3Gate. A heartful congratulations to this group!

A look at the top industries can tell you if the small business contracts awarded differ from overall federal spending. According to NAICS codes for small business awards, we see that codes for Construction, Computer, Engineering, Professional Services, and R&D took the lead for small business awards, which aligns with overall federal spending and is therefore not surprising.

This year, I decided to expand my analysis, focusing specifically on the size of contract awards and the number of companies involved. While 1.82% of these companies won more than $25M in FY’23, the majority, or 60.6%, won less than $99.9k in contract awards in FY’23.  Have a look at the numbers below:

As the numbers above indicate, it’s not easy to break into federal contracting. Less than 18% of the small businesses are winning contracts worth more than $1M.  In my opinion, the true indicator of success will be a more equitable distribution of awards among the different value ranges, but especially within the $1M-$75M range.

What can we expect in FY’24? I am optimistic about a rise in the number of companies securing small business contracts, along with a more equitable distribution of contract awards. It would be great to see the percentage of companies receiving less than $99.9k in contract awards decrease as these companies transition to winning more contracts with higher dollars obligated.

However, as a small business cheerleader, I am always happy to see an increase in the federal contracts awarded to small businesses.  Let us use this week and every other week to express our gratitude to these innovative, resilient entrepreneurs for their hard work and perseverance. I wish them continued in the fiscal years to come!