Yes. Under SBA rules, a minimum of 23% of federal contracting dollars must go to small businesses, with additional targets of roughly 5% for women-owned businesses, 5% for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, 5% for disadvantaged businesses including the SBA 8(a) program, and 3% for HUBZone businesses. Agencies at other levels of government carry similar goals.
These goals create two concrete advantages:
Set-aside contracts that only qualifying businesses may bid on, which shrinks your competition.
Sole-source outreach: when an agency has not met its category goals, especially near the end of the fiscal year, it searches the SBA small business database and contacts qualified vendors directly, without a public competition.
The 8(a) program serves disadvantaged business owners and qualifies participants based on personal income and asset thresholds; contracts are set aside specifically for participants. HUBZone eligibility is based on your business address, which you can check on a public map.
The program helps members determine which certifications fit their situation and incorporates them into the custom roadmap. Note that policy shifts change how set-asides are used, but small business goals remain, and people in these categories continue winning contracts.