Women Owned Small Businesses: Win Set-aside Contracts

**UPDATE** The Women Owned Small Business Program should be ready to Start Before End of 2010! August 2010 -- Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, informed the House Small Business Committee that the women's small business contracting program should be ready to start before the end of 2010. Fedmarket will continue to provide updates as they become available.

Be the First to Win Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) Set-aside Contracts

Why is This Seminar Different?

The proposed rule for WOSBs was recently published on March 4, 2010. As a result, there are a limited number of seminars available for this specific topic. Most seminars that are available simply scratch the surface of the proposed rule. Fedmarket's WOSB seminar is different in that we delve into the specifics of the proposed rule, the implications, and based on our foundation in federal government contracting, we are able to take participants to the next level on how to make the WOSB program work for you.

Who Should Attend?

This seminar is geared towards current or future women-owned small businesses.

Why Should You Attend?

First of all, WOSBs need to understand that government agencies need you. Federal agencies are under the gun to ensure that small businesses including WOSBs, 8(a) companies, HUBZones, veteran/service disabled veteran owned small businesses, and others, at the subcontract level -  get their share of the contracting dollars spent. Also, keep in mind that the federal government is nearing the end of its fiscal year (Sept. 30th), so there is money to be spent before then, and small business goals to be met.

Start early and be prepared to certify as a WOSB when the final rule is published, so that you can be among the first to win contracts under the WOSB contracting program.

Seminar Description

Many of the nation's fastest-growing woman-led businesses attribute their growth to federal government contracts; women owned businesses can record multi-million dollar increases in revenue by focusing on federal business and the opportunities will only increase when the new women-owned set-aside program is implemented by the Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA recently published proposed rules for a small business set-aside program that would give small women business-owners more opportunities in federal contracting.

The new program will provide set-asides for procurements in 83 industries defined by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes; industries where Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) are "under-represented" or "substantially under-represented" in federal contracting.  Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs) will have access to set-asides in both the under-represented and substantially under-represented categories while WOSB will have access to set-asides in just the substantially under represented category.

As proposed, WOSBs would self certify that they are small and 51% owned by women. EDWOSBs would also have to certify that they are economically disadvantaged. Self certification would be verified by (1) a lengthy, complex certification at the federal ORCA Web site and (2) a set of ownership and financial document s must be submitted and filed in an online "document repository"  to be maintained by the SBA.

The new women owned preference program will be referred as the 8(m) Program because it is patterned after the 8(a) Program for small disadvantaged businesses.

Get the details and learn how you can be one of the first women owned businesses to benefit from the new proposal.

Contents Covered:  

Summary of proposed Small Business Administration (SBA) rules

• Ownership & outside control requirements
• Economically disadvantaged certification requirements for EDWOSB
• Proposed criteria for 8(m) set-aside to apply to a contract

New Program Information; the latest on program status from SBA

• Option year treatment of set-aside dollar limits
• Final regulations timeline
• Self certification document repository time line
• ORCA certification website update timeline

Certification Procedures

• Approved certification agencies
• Requirements for WOSBs currently certified as 8(a)
• Recommended corporate document file formatting procedures for self certifying WOSBs
• Critical aspects of certification for WOSBs, including "Document Lists" meeting anticipated document repository verification criteria
• Requirements to prove economic disadvantage, including "Document Lists" meeting anticipated verification criteria

Cancellations & Rescheduling

Cancellation notification must be received one week prior to the webinar date. Upon notification, your registration fee will be refunded less a $100 non-refundable processing fee. Any cancellations beyond the one week period are non-refundable. You may reschedule at anytime; if you reschedule to attend another seminar or webinar, we will apply your payment toward your new registration fee. Personnel substitutions may be made at any time. Payment must be received prior to the webinar date. No-shows are liable for the full webinar fee.