Set-aside means that a percentage of federal spending must be “set-aside” for companies that have certifications for that set aside. For instance, if 25% of total contract spending must go towards small business, then 25% of federal contracts (in funding) will only allow small business to compete in that contract. Each agency has a quota of how much money should be spent on each given certification every year. This means that when a contracting officer is looking into companies to fulfill a contract that doesn’t have any sort of SBA requirements, they will look more favorably on SBA Certified companies in order to fulfill their spending quotas.