Group says federal contracting goals short-change women

This summer, WIPP representative Ann Sullivan testified before a joint hearing of the U.S. House Small Business and Government Reform committees regarding the issue.

“Congress gave federal agencies a 5 percent goal, and the most that agencies have yet attained is 3 percent,” said Sullivan in a WIPP news release.

In 2000, Congress passed Public Law 106-554, allowing federal contractors to award up to 5 percent of all contracts to women-owned businesses. WIPP maintains, however, that women-owned small businesses are dealing with negative effects of contract bundling, whereby two or more contracts are combined into a single agreement, despite a 2002 presidential initiative to remedy the problem.

“Despite strong evidence that bundling is not good for small business or the government, a 2004 Government Accounting Office report showed that federal agencies are confused (about) what constitutes contract bundling,” Sullivan said.

A 2002 report by the Office of Management and Budget found that for every $100 awarded on a bundled contract, there is a $33 decrease for small businesses. The report also said that competition is reduced in terms of the frequency and number of opportunities for small businesses.

“Women business owners believe they should have a larger stake in government contracting,” said WIPP President Barbara Kasoff, who noted that 48 percent of all privately held companies in the United States are owned by women.

Kasoff noted that in annual WIPP surveys, access to government contracts is “one of the top challenges facing women business owners, who are losing billions of dollars in potential sales to the government.” [[In-content Ad]]