WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), along with several of his colleagues, are urging the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to expedite regulations to implement provisions of the Women’s Small Business Procurement Parity Act that were included in the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In a letter yesterday to SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, the Senator King and his colleagues expressed their strong support for eliminating barriers that prevent federal agencies from awarding more contracts to women-owned small businesses (WOSB).

“Congress rightly acted to give women-owned small businesses increased opportunities within the federal contracting process, and now it’s time for the Small Business Administration to implement those changes without delay,” Senator King said. “The SBA supported the changes, and I’m hopeful that they will act quickly to put them into effect.”

Although women make up more than half of the U.S. population, only about 30 percent of businesses are owned by women in the United States. The provision included in the FY2015 NDAA would support additional contracting for WOSBs by removing the sole-source authority restriction on the WOSB procurement program to give it parity with other small business federal contracting programs. This would help the federal government meet the 5 percent WOSBs contracting goal that lawmakers set two decades ago.

The letter, which was led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), was also signed Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

The full text of the letter is below and can be read here.

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February 25, 2015

The Honorable Maria Contreras-Sweet

Administrator

U.S. Small Business Administration

409 3rd Street SW, Suite 7000

Washington, DC 20416

Last Congress, we introduced the Women’s Small Business Procurement Parity Act to provide a level playing field for women business owners competing for federal contracts.  We thank you for your support for this proposal and your help including a nearly identical provision in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that became law.  Today, we write to urge you to swiftly promulgate regulations to implement this provision so that additional opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) can be made available across the country.

As you know, WOSBs make up nearly 30 percent of all firms but continue to struggle in the federal contracting environment.  Despite efforts by the SBA to increase WOSB contracting, the federal government has yet to meet its goal of awarding five percent of federal contracts to WOSBs.  The provision we included in the NDAA eliminates one of the main barriers that prevented federal agencies from achieving that goal. By allowing contracting officers at federal agencies to award sole-source contracts to WOSBs, the provision puts WOSBs on the same playing field as other small business contracting programs.

We believe that sole-source authority has the potential to significantly increase WOSB contracting if implemented quickly. At a Senate Small Business Committee hearing last year, women business owners testified that providing sole-source parity would be an important way for WOSBs to demonstrate their products and services for federal agencies. In addition, prior experience suggests that changes to the program can have a significant impact.  When the SBA quickly implemented a statutory change removing caps on award sizes in 2013, the amount of dollars awarded through the WOSB program tripled.

We thank you for your leadership on this issue and your attention to this matter. Please let us know if we can be helpful to you as you implement this important reform.

Sincerely,

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