Women-Owned Small Businesses Suffer Largest Federal Contracting Opportunity Loss in History

FY2008 Contracting Misses Goal for Contracting with Women-Owned Small Businesses by Over Twelve Billion Dollars

Women-Owned Small Businesses Suffer Largest Federal Contracting Opportunity Loss in HistoryAfter more than a decade of failure to meet federal contracting goals with women, and nearly nine years of delay in the implementation of the Women’s Procurement Program, the recently released FY2008 federal spending report shows that women-owned small businesses suffered the greatest opportunity loss in history. FY2008 federal spending with women missed the paltry five percent goal for spending with women by twenty-two percent representing a shortfall of over $12 Billion in just one year.

“Federal spending increased over $300 Billion between 2001 and 2008, while the federal contracts secured by women-owned firms have seen shortfall after shortfall,” said Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. “And now, with the release of the FY 2008 data, we find that women-owned businesses lost over $12 Billion of opportunity in FY2008 as the federal government failed to meet the remarkably low goal of five-percent for contracting with women-owned small businesses. For more than ten years, the federal government has failed to meet their own goal. And for more than nine years, the Small Business Administration has failed to implement the Women’s Procurement Program which was established by Congress to assist federal agencies to overcome this tragic shortcoming,” added Dorfman.

>>Read the press release (PDF)

>>Read the report (PDF)

Special Report: 2006 Federal Contracting Data Grossly Overstates Spending with Women-Owned Firms

Contracting Data Reported by the Small Business Administration in 2006 Overstates Spending with Women-Owned Firms by Billions

USWCC | Report to Congress: Federal data grossly overstates contracting with women-owned firms(Includes 2007 update)

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce delivered this report to Congress to shine the light on the challenges women-owned firms face in the federal contracting arena.  For more than a decade the federal government has not met the paltry five-percent goal for contracting with women-owned small businesses (WOSB).

This report uncovers potentially billions of dollars that have been incorrectly attributed to federal spending with women-owned firms. These are not just anomalies. We have identified dozens of
firms that continue to be counted as women-owned when they are headed by male CEOs. The SBA does little to assure the veracity that a firm is women-owned, and Congress has done little to force the SBA to
support the very small businesses they are tasked with championing.

>>Read the report (PDF)

Women Business Owners Blocked from Fair Access to Federal Contracts

USWCC | Report to Congress: Women Business Owners Blocked from Fair Access to Federal ContractsThe U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce provides a comprehensive report on the status of women-owned small business federal contractors and the Small Business Administration's seven year legacy of failure and subterfuge.

Even today, as women own nearly thirty percent of all firms in America, the federal government lags behind in doing business with women. Women lose billions of dollars every year as the federal government fails to meet the low five percent mark.

>>Read the report (PDF)