New WOSB Rule Expands Women’s Access to Federal Contracts

By Rieva Lesonsky

Women-owned small businesses have long been struggling to get their share of federal government contracting opportunities. With the recent finalization of the SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) rule, they will get a much-needed boost.

It has long been a goal, but never achieved, that 5 percent of federal contracting dollars should go to women-owned small businesses. To help reach that goal, a rule to help women get greater access to federal contracts was first authorized by Congress back in 2000. The SBA proposed various draft rules over the years, but many met with controversy and outrage on the part of women entrepreneurs.

When President Obama took office, his administration started fresh and the SBA drafted a brand-new rule that took into account all the studies, public comments and research that had gone before.

The final rule identifies 83 industries where WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented in federal procurement. It also eliminates a requirement included in a prior proposed rule that would have prevented federal agencies from participating unless each agency certified it had formerly discriminated against women-owned small businesses. Finally, it established a $5 million ceiling for manufacturing-related contracts and a $3 million ceiling for other products and services. (You can read more details of the final rule at the SBA’s website.)

According to SBA Administrator Karen Mills, “Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of our nation’s economy, and even during the economic downturn of the last few years, have been one of the key job creation engines in communities across the country. Despite their growth and the fact that women lead some of the strongest and most innovative companies, women-owned firms continue to be under-represented in the federal contracting marketplace. This rule will be a platform for changing that by providing greater opportunities for women-owned small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.”

The next stage in the process is implementation. The SBA and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council have 120 days to create the technology and program infrastructure needed. The SBA estimates contracts will become available to WOSBs early next year.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 22nd, 2010 at 10:30 am and is filed under small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.