Sheila N. Williams, DBE Program Mgr
City of Kansas City - Aviation Dept.
601 Brasilia Ave
Kansas City, MO 64153
Voice: 816-243-3108
Fax: 816-243-3207
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U.S. Small Business Administration
-- News Release --
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Release Date: October 4, 2010
Contact: Hayley Matz (202) 205-6948
Release Number: 10-55
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
SBA Releases Final Women-Owned Small Business Rule to Expand Access to
Federal Contracting Opportunities
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New program will be available in early 2011 for small, women-owned firms
WASHINGTON – With the publication today of a final rule in the Federal
Register, the U.S. Small Business Administration will begin implementation of its
women-owned small business (WOSB) contracting program. The agency
expects the program to be available for WOSBs in early 2011.
The rule is part of the Obama Administration's overall commitment to expanding
opportunities for small businesses to compete for federal contracts, in
particular those owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged
persons and veterans. This rule identifies 83 industries in which WOSBs are
under-represented or substantially under-represented in the federal contract
marketplace. In addition to opening up more opportunities for WOSBs, the rule
is also another tool to help achieve the statutory goal that 5 percent of
federal contracting dollars go to women-owned small businesses.
"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," SBA Administrator Karen Mills said.
"Federal contracts provide critical opportunities for owners of small firms to
take their business to the next level and create good-paying jobs," Mills
added. "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."
With the publication today of the final rule, SBA, in conjunction with the
Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, will begin a 120-day implementation of
the WOSB contracting program, including building the technology and program
infrastructure to support the certification process and ongoing oversight. With
implementation expected to take several months, the agency expects that
federal agencies' contracting officers will be able to start making contracts
available to WOSBs under the program in early 2011.
The creation of a rule to increase federal contracting opportunities for WOSBs
was authorized by Congress in 2000. Since that time, SBA took a number of
steps to study and analyze the market, including looking at participation by
women-owned small businesses across all industries. Various draft rules were
made available for public comment in prior years, but shortly after taking office
the Obama Administration drafted a new, comprehensive rule, based on the
analysis of the prior studies and on all the questions and comments previously
received. The proposed rule was published for public comment on March 2,
2010 for 60 days. SBA received over 1,000 comments during that time.
Some of the components of the Women-Owned Small Business rule include:
• To be eligible, a firm must be 51 percent owned and controlled by
one or more women, and primarily managed by one or more women. The
women must be U.S. citizens. The firm must be "small" in its primary industry in
accordance with SBA's size standards for that industry. In order for a WOSB
to be deemed "economically disadvantaged," its owners must demonstrate
economic disadvantage in accordance with the requirements set forth in the
final rule.
• Based upon the analysis in a study commissioned by the SBA from
the Kauffman-RAND Foundation, the final rule identifies 83 industries (identified
by "NAICS" codes) in which women-owned small businesses are under-
represented or substantially under-represented in federal procurements.
o The SBA has identified eligible industries based upon the combination
of both the "share of contracting dollars" analysis, as well as the "share of
number of contracts awarded" analysis used in the RAND study. This differs
from an earlier proposed version of the rule which identified only four industries
in which women-owned small businesses were under-represented. This earlier
version proposed to identify eligible industries based solely on the "share of
contracting dollars" analysis used in the RAND study.
• In accordance with the statute, the final rule authorizes a set-aside
of federal contracts for WOSBs where the anticipated contract price does not
exceed $5 million in the case of manufacturing contracts and $3 million in the
case of other contracts. Contracts with values in excess of these limits are
not subject to set-aside under this program.
• The final rule removes the requirement, set forth in a prior proposed
version, that each federal agency certify that it had engaged in discrimination
against women-owned small businesses in order for the program to apply to
contracting by that agency.
• The proposed rule allows women-owned small businesses to self-
certify as "WOSBs" or to be certified by third-party certifiers, including
government entities and private certification groups.
o The final rule requires WOSBs which self-certify to submit a robust
certification verification, to complete the certifications at the federal Online
Representation and Certification Application ("ORCA") Web site, and also to
submit a core set of eligibility-related documents to an online "document
repository" to be maintained by the SBA. Each agency's contracting officers
will have full access to this repository.
o The SBA intends to engage in a significant number of program
examinations to confirm eligibility of individual WOSBs.
o In the event of a contract protest or program review, the SBA has
the authority to request substantial additional documentation from the WOSB
to establish eligibility.
o SBA intends to pursue vigorously punitive action against ineligible
firms which seek to take advantage of this program and in so doing to deny its
benefits to the intended legitimate WOSBs.
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