I am pleased to report, for the fifth consecutive year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has scored an “A” rating on the Small Business Administration (SBA) Annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard.

Each year, the SBA Scorecard measures how 24 Federal agencies fare in achieving their small business contracting goals. SBA ratings are based on five categories: small businesses, women-owned business, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, businesses in historically underutilized business zones (HUBzones), and small disadvantaged businesses. Of the seven Federal agencies that spend the most in contracting dollars, DHS is the only agency to receive a grade of “A” five years in a row.

In virtually every segment of our homeland security community, there are small businesses working to support the DHS mission and play a critical role in delivering efficient and innovative solutions to our long-and short-term acquisition needs. Small businesses play a major role in the nation’s economic recovery. DHS is pleased to suppose the President’s small business and economic agenda, further amplifying the President’s work in promoting greater business opportunities with the Federal government.

The strong SBA ratings the Department has received in the past five years are due in no small part to the hard work and dedication of the team in our Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) and the contracting professionals and small business advocates in every component. OSDBU staff continues to play a critical role opening new doors of opportunity by actively engaging small vendors throughout the country.  In a given year, they typically assist approximately 20,000 small businesses through conferences, vendor outreach sessions, meetings, phone calls, and emails. As a result of our efforts to foster open communication with industry, including small business outreach, in FY 2013 over 1,700 small businesses received their first DHS contract.

Since the Department’s creation in 2003, small businesses have been essential to our efforts to buy goods and services to help keep the country safe at the least cost to the American taxpayers. DHS looks forward to our continued partnership with SBA as we continually identify small business contracting opportunities and remain committed in our efforts to secure the nation.

For more information about DHS’s small business programs, please visit here.