SBA Issues New Rule For Women’s Contracting Program
Mar 8th, 2010 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Politics & PolicyIt looks like the SBA is finally going to implement that Women’s Federal Procurement Program that so many women’s groups were fighting about with the Bush Administration for eight long years. It all started back in 2000 when President Bill Clinton signed the Equity in Contracting for Women Act, which called for the SBA to conduct a study to ascertain the industry sectors in which women-owned businesses were chronically and historically underrepresented among federal contract awardees. The agency would then create a set of rules under which procurement agents could set aside certain contracts for women-owned businesses in those relevant industries. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it?
You wouldn’t believe the contortions the Bush Administration went through to avoid implementing the program but, with a new Administration comes new policy priorities — including some new ideas about obeying the law. Last week, the SBA announced a new set of proposed rules to implement the program, across the entire federal government in 83 industries, instead of just four (as the original SBA proposed rules did). The rule also removes the requirement that federal agencies certify their own past discrimination against women-owned firms in order for the program to apply and allows women business owners to self-certify that theirs is a (minimally) 51% woman-owned business (with adequate documentation, of course) in order to be eligible for contracts under the program, instead of insisting on third-party certification. The proposed rule is currently subject to public comment until close of business on May 3, 2010. To submit comments, visit www.regulations.gov.
