The federal government awarded the highest percentage of its contracts to small businesses since setting a minimum goal in 1997, the Small Business Administration said on Friday.
The SBA said the federal government awarded almost 25 percent of its contracts in the fiscal year to small businesses across the United States. This marks the second year in a row that the federal contracting goal of 23 percent has been surpassed.
A total of $91.1 billion in contracts was granted to small businesses during the 2014 fiscal year, surpassing 2013's gross contracts by $8 billion.
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Of the 2014 contracts, 5 percent—$17.2 billion— belonged to women-owned businesses and 4 percent—$13.5 billion— were given to service disabled veterans who own small businesses.
These contracts could spur the creation of more than 500,000 jobs in the U.S. economy for 2015, according to Maria Contreras Sweet, the administrator of the SBA.
"We're celebrating the federal government's best year ever for small business contracting and it's a testament to the world-class services that America's entrepreneurs are providing their government across every federal agency," said Contreras-Sweet in a statement.