From the National Women's Law Center:

A rule proposed by the Bush Administration would gut a program that helps women-owned small businesses compete on a level playing field for federal contracts. We've been advised that the rule may soon become final.

The program in question, the Women’s Procurement Program, aims to ensure that at least 5 percent of federal contracting dollars are awarded to women-owned small businesses. The Administration's proposed rule would limit the industries in which the contracting goal could be applied, and would require that each federal agency find that it has engaged in discrimination before using the flexibility granted by the program.

In late December 2007, the Small Business Administration issued a proposed rule that would dramatically undermine the Women's Procurement Program — a Congressionally mandated and bipartisan program to help women-owned small businesses compete on a level playing field for Federal contracts. The Center and its coalition partners filed comments opposing the proposed rule, but we have now been advised that the Administration intends to issue a final rule shortly that mirrors the deeply problematic proposed rule.

There is substantial evidence that women and minority owned businesses have been subject to discrimination in numerous ways, including in lending, in access to capital, and in basic access to contracting opportunities. In response to this evidence, Congress in 2000 passed a law to address this discrimination, setting a goal that 5% of federal contracting dollars be awarded to women-owned small businesses. That goal has never been met: although women-owned small businesses comprise 30% of all small businesses, in 2006, for example, they received only 3.4% of federal contracts.

Despite the continuing barriers faced by women-owned businesses, the SBA's proposed rule would virtually nullify the goals of the Women's Procurement Program by drastically limiting the number of industries in which the contracting goal could be applied and by requiring that each federal agency find that it has itself engaged in discrimination before using the flexibility granted by the Program. The proposed rule seriously misstates the applicable legal standards, and imposes unnecessary and inappropriate barriers that virtually ensure that the Women's Procurement Program will never be used.

We're tracking the developments on this issue, and we'll keep you informed about next steps.

Gillian Parrillo
SacWomen.com