Government operations and workforce

Executive Order 13170: Increasing Opportunities and Access for Disadvantaged Businesses

President: Bill Clinton

Directed agencies to expand outreach, subcontracting and procurement opportunities for small disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13170 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13170 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13170 do?

EO 13170 told federal agencies to pursue participation by small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms and minority business enterprises through acquisition planning, outreach, subcontracting, data and review of bundled contracts. The underlying small-business programs continue, but court decisions and later executive policy ended race-based presumptions in individual 8(a) eligibility and returned the small-disadvantaged-business contracting goal to the statutory five percent.

Claim-level review October 2, 2026: The order promotes access to federal contracting; it does not award a contract or guarantee eligibility. Later policy and litigation changed aspects of disadvantaged-business certification, while separate statutory small-business and 8(a) authorities remain distinct.

Administration position: The order promotes access and accountability; it does not guarantee awards, displace competition rules or authorize unconstitutional preferences.
SignedOctober 6, 2000
Lead agencySmall Business Administration
Statutory SDB goalFive percent

Before and after

Before the order

Small-business statutes set participation goals, but agencies faced persistent shortfalls and contract bundling barriers.

After the order

Agencies had added planning, reporting and outreach duties, now constrained by later equal-protection rulings and current policy.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Federal agenciesPlan outreach and maximize lawful participationContinuing within current law
SBAReview goals, eligibility and bundled procurementsContinuing
Prime contractorsProvide subcontracting opportunities where requiredContinuing under procurement law

What happened next

EO 13170 established additional agency duties.

A federal court enjoined SBA’s race-based rebuttable presumption in the 8(a) program.

Signed text, official disposition and the cited later implementation records for EO 13170 rechecked.

Reviewed court position

Court status

No court opinion, filing or docket is linked in this guide’s current source set.