How the New Administration May Impact Federal Contracting and Small Businesses

With the election now in the rear-view mirror, and Joe Biden having been declared the apparent election winner and President-Elect, government contractors must now prepare for the transition to a new administration. Given that, it may be useful to spend some time charting the Biden campaign’s stances on federal contracting, since those may be more unfamiliar at this point than those of the current administration. 

The road ahead does present many questions. Several of Biden’s planned policies in infrastructure, R&D and national security (i.e. ending national emergency funding for the border wall) will have impacts on contractors within those specific disciplines. However, I want to focus on the federal contracting outlook for general contracting and small business provisions in this writing.

“ Contractors should arm themselves with the knowledge of impacts to their businesses to prepare for whatever course the incoming administration takes. ”

At initial glance, the Biden campaign outlines several steps to assist the Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) community:

• Require prime contractors to implement plans to increase subcontracting opportunities for SDBs
• Expand long-term technical assistance and federal contracting preferences for SDBs
• Triple the federal goal for contracting with SDBs from 5% to a minimum of 15% of all federal procurement dollars by 2025
• Incentivize state and local governments and private sector partners to contract with SDBs
• Request state and local governments and private sector partners to publicly share their small disadvantaged business contracting goals and strategies, facilitate partnerships with those entities and publish a nationwide scorecard of each state’s effort to contract with SDBs
• Build on anti-bundling provisions under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, by conducting a government-wide review of existing contract bundling to ensure small business participation in federal and state procurement opportunities

In addition to SDB assistance, the Biden campaign is targeting several other contract-related policies, such as extending the maximum length of participation in the 8(a) program and expanding supportive off-ramp transitions for 8(a) graduates. Moreover, Biden will pursue implementation of the Buy Indian Act within the BIA and IHS to increase procurement opportunities for Native-owned businesses.

As a part of the upcoming administration change; Biden also promises to close the federal contractor loophole, which allows officers and directors of federal contractors to contribute to federal candidates. In that same vein, the democratic President-Elect plans to issue an Executive Order prohibiting White House influence on awarding of government contracts and grants.

Who knows what the future holds? Regardless, there are a few important steps that businesses can take, including arming themselves with relevant analysis of the marketplace.

One thing to watch for will be our Federal Market Analysis team’s ongoing research, including a report in December that details the timeline, activities and impacts of a transition, and how contractors can prepare.

Additionally, you can join us at FedFocus 2021 to get the most up-to-date reaction to the potential administration change. In this virtual event, some of Deltek’s leading analysts will share the federal government contracting outlook for 2021, including the impact of the recent elections on government contracting and policy. You can register for the live event, and if you miss out, you can still access an on-demand version of FedFocus 2021 to get the information about the coming year that your business needs.

Looking to learn more about GovWin IQ? Click the link below to get more information on how your business can arm itself with the tools to succeed in federal contracting.