SBA is responsible for ensuring that the government-wide goal for participation of small business concerns is established annually at the statutory levels and the reporting agencies’ achievements are relative to the goals. Here is how the process works:

1. SBA negotiates with agencies to establish individual agency goals that, in the aggregate, constitute government-wide goals. In addition, SBA also negotiates a small business subcontracting goal based on recent achievement levels, and a HUBZone subcontracting goal equivalent to the required prime HubZone goal.
2. Before the beginning of the fiscal year, agencies submit their proposed goals to SBA.
3. SBA’s Office of Government Contracting determines if these individual agency goals, in the aggregate, meet or exceed the government-wide statutorily mandated goals in each small business category.
4. SBA notifies the agencies of their final agency goals.

Visit the Goaling Guidelines under the Goaling Program to learn more about how goals are created and negotiated.