March/April 2010

How long must we wait?

That's the question women business owners who do business with the federal government have been asking for more than 10 years.

In our January/February 2001 issue, we wrote that Section 8 of the Small Business Act had been amended to give the Small Business Administration (SBA) the authority for a "restricted competition" program for woman-owned small businesses (WOSBs). And we were told that the Office of Federal Contract Assistance for Women Business Owners, in the Office of Government Contracting, was drafting revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR).

Passed by Congress in December 2000, it was then known as the "Equity in Contracting for Women Act of 2000." Section 8(m) of the SBA's reauthorization bill (Public Law 106-554), the legislative authority for the program, is comparable to the 8(a) set-aside program, now known as a business development program. It required that companies be 51 percent owned by economically disadvantaged women. However, that restriction could be waived if the SBA determined that the company was in an industry in which woman-owned firms were underrepresented. The legislation directed the SBA to conduct a survey to identify such industries. And that surveying process is what has taken a decade to accomplish.

A little more history, if you will.

In October 2004, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce (USWCC) filed a complaint against the SBA for failure to implement the program. In May 2005, more than 70 members of Congress signed an amicus brief in support of the USWCC complaint. Finally, in 2005, the U.S. District Court called the delay "unreasonable" and the judge directed the SBA to submit, within 45 days, a proposed schedule for implementation of the program.

Then, in December 2007, the SBA published a proposed rule regarding the creation of a woman-owned small business contracting procedure. Only four industries were deemed underrepresented. This, according to a study commissioned by the SBA from the RAND Corporation. The women's business advocates and their constituencies were outraged.

In a "final" rule, submitted to the Federal Register in late 2008, the SBA increased the number of industries from 4 to 31. But the advocacy organizations and women business owners were still not satisfied.

So here we are. It's 2010. The SBA has submitted yet another proposed ruling, which appeared in the Federal Register on March 4. The ruling identifies 83 industries in which WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented. You can turn to page 5 for the reactions of several women's organizations.

Now, we have a new question. Have we made any progress? Undoubtedly, yes. Is it enough? In my opinion, there is never enough when business owners, whether women or minorities, are shut out of the competition. The goal is equal opportunity. We still have a long way to go.

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