The
!! NEW !! "Women
Owned
Small
Business
Preference
Program" called
the 8(m) program is a top priority for the Obama Administration and SBA. The U.S.
Small Business Administration announced Women-owned small businesses can
begin taking steps to participate in a new federal contracting program
on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.
The new Women-Owned Small Business 8(m) Federal Contract Program will be fully
implemented over the next several months, with the first contracts
expected to be awarded by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011.
http://www.sba.gov/content/sba-announces-contracting-program-women-owned-small-businesses
Based upon the analysis in a study commissioned by the SBA from the
Kauffman-RAND Foundation the proposed rule identifies 83 industries
(identified by 4 digit North American Industry Classification System, or NAICS codes) in which women-owned small businesses are under-represented or
substantially under-represented.
The Rand Report is available to the public at
http://www.Rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR442.
The Final Rule will set forth procedures authorized by the Small Business Act to
help ensure a level playing field on which women-owned small businesses can
compete for Federal contracting opportunities, while helping achieve the
existing statutory goal that 5 percent of Federal contracting dollars go to
women-owned small businesses.
In accordance with the statute, it will authorizes a set-aside of
Federal contracts for WOSBs or economically disadvantaged women-owned small
businesses (EDWOSBs) 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, if certain other conditions are met.
The Final Rule will remove 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 Final Rule allows WOSBs or EDWOSBs to self-certify their status or to be
certified by third-party certifiers, including government entities and
private certification groups.
The first women-owned businesses to be certified under the
new 8(m) program will have a head start because of the political pressure to
give small business preference to women-owned businesses which has been building
for years.
The first qualifiers will be in a particularly advantageous position for the
following reasons:
The Obama administration will highlight the significance of the new program
for obvious political reasons, not to mention the fact that the Bush
administration did everything in their power to scuttle the program.
Contacting Officers will be anxious to make up for past sins with the
prodding of democratic political appointees. Why not do what the boss wants?
There will be flurry of WOSB contracting awards in the first year followed
by a steadier state where the agencies meet their women-owned goals on a
more regular basis.
The 8(m) - women-owned small business
set-aside program will be known as the
Women's Contracting Rule Program.