How the Federal Government Spends Its Advertising Dollars: 2014-2023

Why This Matters

The federal government spends billions of dollars each year on advertising to inform the public about programs, services, and important issues. This report looks at how much of this money goes to small businesses and those owned by women and minorities.

The Big Picture

• The government spent $14.9 billion on advertising over ten years
• Out of this, $2.1 billion (14%) went to small businesses and those owned by women and minorities
• Most contracts went to a small number of large companies
• Hispanic American-owned businesses got the largest share of minority contracts

Who Gets The Money?

Large Companies (Non-minority/women-owned):

• The top 13 companies got 88% of regular business contracts
• Four companies received over $1 billion each
• One company alone got $3.2 billion (21% of all advertising money)

Small, Minority, and Women-owned Businesses:

• The top 8 companies got 41% of their category’s contracts
• The most successful company in this group (Hispanic American and women-owned) received $222 million

Note: The report doesn’t name specific companies.

Who’s Spending the Money?

Three government departments handle most of the advertising spending:

• Department of Defense (Military)
• Health and Human Services (Healthcare)
• Homeland Security

Together, these three spent more than half of all advertising dollars meant for small, minority, and women-owned businesses.

Interesting Findings

Some agencies did better than others at spreading the money around:

• NASA gave 99% of its advertising money to small, minority, and women-owned businesses
• The Department of Education gave 92% to specified businesses
• The Department of Defense gave about 6% to specified businesses

During COVID-19

• The government spent $1.1 billion on COVID-19 advertising
• Only about 3.5% went to small, minority, and women-owned businesses
• Health and Human Services handled most of this spending
• Only seven small, minority, or women-owned businesses got COVID-19 related contracts

What This Tells Us

While some agencies are doing well at giving contracts to diverse businesses, there’s room for improvement. Most of the money still goes to a small number of big companies, especially during emergencies like COVID-19. This suggests we need better ways to help smaller and diverse businesses compete for these opportunities.

Looking Forward

The government wants to give more opportunities to small, minority, and women-owned businesses. Understanding how money is spent now is the first step in making sure more businesses have a fair chance at these contracts in the future.