Opening Doors for Woman-Owned Businesses
Feb 4th, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyAs advertised, both the House and Senate Small Business Committees held hearings last month to look into those infamous rules proposed by the SBA to implement the Women’s Procurement Program. The program, based on a 2000 piece of legislation signed by President Clinton, has hit an absurd series of snags to implementation, primarily because the Bush Administration seems to want to avoid setting it in motion in the worst way. But, while testimony from women business owners clearly showed that the program is needed, lawmakers needn’t think that this set-aside program alone will get the government to that 5% contracting goal that has consistently eluded them, either. Too many woman-owned firms are microbusinesses and the federal government lacks a clear strategy for making the federal marketplace accessible to microbusinesses. The SBA needs to fix its rules but somebody also needs to fix the system to make it more user friendly for microbusiness owners, regardless of gender.
