The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced resource enhancements designed to simplify and streamline access to contracting information for businesses interested in selling their products and services to USDA.
Spearheaded by USDA’s Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) in collaboration with the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), these improvements include:
- The creation of a new “Contracting with USDA” site that offers information, resources, and links for businesses that want to contract with USDA, in a helpful Q&A format. The site addresses commonly asked questions such as “What does USDA typically buy?”, “What are the most common ways USDA buys what it needs?” and “How do I find current opportunities to contract with USDA?”
- An updated Vendor Capability Submission Portal that allows suppliers and merchants to submit their business capabilities to USDA via a web form; with portal submissions shared with contracting officers across the Department.
- Updates to the previously deployed USDA Procurement Forecast, a tool that assists businesses and individuals with identifying procurement opportunities with USDA. Launched in June 2023, the Procurement Forecast now has a user-friendly way to search and filter procurement opportunities. Currently, the tool includes nearly 6,000 planned contract opportunities for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.
In FY 2023, the USDA obligated more than $11 billion in 67,000 contract activities spanning a wide variety of industries and contract types. In FY 2024, they estimate a comparable obligation amount and contract awards to industry partners.
USDA purchasing extends well beyond agricultural commodities. Last fiscal year, the Department awarded contracts to nearly 12,000 businesses from a wide range of industries for $4.9 billion in food, $4.2 billion in services, $1.7 billion in Information Technology contracts, a half a billion in goods, and nearly a half billion in construction contracts.
The Department strongly supports procurement initiatives that promote equity and remove barriers to procurement opportunities. To encourage growth, USDA plans to award 57.5% or more of its contract dollars to small businesses this year, including 27.85% to small, disadvantaged businesses. USDA’s collective efforts to support small businesses garnered an A+ Rating on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s FY2023 Small Business Procurement Scorecard.
Businesses interested in contracting with USDA should visit usda.gov/da/ocp/contracting for access to the new resources and others.
