Policy Priorities
The Women’s Procurement Circle’s mission is to advocate for policies that strengthen women-owned companies doing business with the federal government.
Increase Awards to Women-Owned Businesses: The statutory governmentwide goal for contract awards to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) is 5%, yet this goal has only been met twice since the program was implemented in 2011. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), in FY2024, women-owned businesses were awarded 4.97% of all prime contracts or $31.7 billion. Increasing federal contracts to WOSBs results in creating a more dynamic and resilient industrial base, of which these firms are an important part. Therefore, the WOSB goal should be raised from 5% to 10%, with the overall small business goal increased accordingly. Congress, the SBA, federal agencies, and women-owned businesses must work together to increase contracts awarded through the women-owned small business federal contract program.
Expand Sole Source Contract Opportunities for Women-Owned Businesses: As government buying continues to move toward large contracts, the WOSB program’s sole source authority is more important than ever. However, the current threshold—$4.5/$7 million for the duration of the contract—is too low to be effective. Congress should raise these limits to make sole source awards a more impactful tool.
Maximize Women-Owned Business Awards on Governmentwide Contracts: Due to the growing usage of category management, the government favors large, long-term contracts, in lieu of smaller, direct contracts. These long-term governmentwide contracts require substantial resources to bid and win task orders, creating a barrier for many innovative small businesses to remain competitive in the federal marketplace. We urge the General Services Administration (GSA) to finalize the pending Polaris contract; an action women have been advocating for since the implementation of the WOSB program.
Eliminate Self-Certification in the Women-Owned Small Business Program: Eliminating self-certification for the WOSB program and requiring self-certified women-owned companies to obtain a certification through the SBA will increase the integrity of the program and assure federal buyers that these companies are ready to do business. We support legislative efforts to make this critical change to the WOSB program, such as H.R. 1816, the WOSB Accountability Act passed by the House. We urge the Senate to act on this important legislation.