Recently in the Procurement Category

For many business owners, the challenge to their public policy education is not a lack of interest but of time.  Given the breadth and complexity of the available information, it's difficult for anyone to sort through the latest legislation, much less a busy entrepreneur. But Laurie Simon, CEO of Ombrella Inc, found the answers she needed through a not-so-surprising resource: a network of other business owners.

Laurie founded her IT and business consulting firm in 2004 and quickly became active in organizations that could help her build her business. Through her networking, she was referred to Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). "I've always been very passionate about business policies, especially how they affect women and minority business owners," she told me. "And I found that WIPP aligned with my values. They take a bipartisan approach to getting the right policies in place to support business owners."

Among benefits of her WIPP involvement Laurie outlined were:

• Streamlined information on government policies. WIPP distills new policies down to the top points of how they are going to affect small business.

• Advocacy on behalf of small business. "WIPP is a watchdog on bills affecting small business, but we also proactively advocate for new policies and make sure our proposals are communicated to the right people." 

• Networking and opportunities. "Any time I've had any kind of business challenge, I've been able to leverage the women I've met through WIPP. Everyone is open to making connections and learning more about each other's businesses and supporting and making referrals."

• Access to decision makers. "The level of influence among the membership has helped me open quite a few doors. I now have other business leaders asking me for my opinion on new bills."

Today, Laurie sits on both the WIPP Communications Committee and the committee for their Give Me 5 program, focused on helping women business owners obtain their share of the $500 billion in government contracting.  "There is a government goal that 5% of that should go to women-owned businesses," Laurie said. Currently, we're only getting 3.4%. The Give Me 5 program was started to bring awareness to both women business owners and policymakers to help reach that goal - and beyond." Launched as a partnership between WIPP and American Express OPEN, the Give Me 5 program has educated 200,000 women on federal contracting opportunities and increased the number of women-owned businesses registered on the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) - a requirement for obtaining government contracts - by 36%.

A strong proponent for small businesses going after government contracts, Laurie is currently completing a mentoring program led by Lourdes Martin-Rosa, American Express OPEN's advisor on government contracting, that coaches a select number of women business owners on to help her get on the GSA Schedule.  (GSA stands for the General Services Administration, the independent agency that centralizes procurement for the federal government.)  

"I've learned a lot of the ins and outs of the process, especially in how we position ourselves and to look for opportunities sooner rather than the later. It's also opened my eyes to different teaming opportunities. We're now positioning ourselves for teaming with larger contractors, and I can't wait to get my first contract."

If you are interested in learning more about government contracting opportunities, I invite you to visit OPEN for Government Contracts: Victory in Procurement (VIP) for Small Business, a program American Express OPEN has launched with WIPP, Business Matchmaking, and SCORE.  You can also learn more by listening to this podcast "NAME" and by visiting www.giveme5.org for upcoming webinars, events and policy news. 

For more information on Laurie or Ombrella Consulting, visit www.ombrellausa.com.

For more information on WIPP, visit www.wipp.org and read this article by my colleague Marcy Shinder, "Partnering for Growth: Women-Owned Businesses as the 5th Largest GDP in World."

The U.S. Small Business Administration today released a proposed rule aimed at expanding federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSB). The women's business community has been waiting 11 years for an effective program which will help the government meet its 5% contracting goal with women.

According to a press release from the SBA, the proposed rule identifies 83 industries in which WOSBs are under-represented or substantially under-represented in the federal contract marketplace. Additionally, it removes the requirement, set forth in a prior proposed version, that each federal agency certify that it had engaged in discrimination against women-owned small businesses in order for the program to apply to contracting by that agency.

Click here to read the proposed rules, SBA Press Release, and WIPP's response statement. We will review the rule and provide you with a detailed analysis.

The public may submit comments to this proposed rule up until close of business on May 3, 2010, to www.regulations.gov, where they will be posted after 4pm EST today, or by mailing them to Dean Koppel, Assistant Director, Office of Policy and Research, Office of Government Contracting, U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd St. SW, Washington, DC 20416. Please reference RIN 3245-AG06 when submitting comments.

Contact Angelin Barrios, WIPP Small Business Policy Analyst, at abarrios@wipp.org with any questions.

Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) along with SCORE and American Express OPEN were featured in PR Newswire's February 4th article "SCORE Launches Government Contracting Resources for Small Businesses at www.score.org".

SCORE has recently launched online resources to help small businesses secure government contracts. New articles, tools and events will be featured in this resource center for small businesses. SCORE, American Express and WIPP with Give Me 5: Education and Access for Women in Contracting is sponsoring the section.

Michelle Thompson-Dolberry, Director of Advocacy Marketing at American Express OPEN, touted the new program's partnership saying "We are pleased to partner with SCORE and our other government contracting partners, Women Impacting Public Policy and Business Matchmaking, to give all business owners access to a variety of resources that will help them grow and succeed."

This new program seeks to greatly assist small businesses looking to grow their sales and success through potential government contracts.

Click here to read a quick introduction on government contracting from American Express OPEN, podcasts from Give Me 5, and access to SCORE mentoring. 

SBA's Associate Administrator for Government Contracting Business Development, Joe Jordon, testified before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee that agencies are not meeting their women-owned goal of 5% with respect to stimulus contracts. According to Mr. Jordan, as of October 2, nearly 26 percent of all federal stimulus contracting dollars, or more than $4 billion, was awarded to small businesses.  Specifically, more than $1 out of every $4 spent on federal Recovery Act contracts has gone to small businesses, even though the Recovery Act does not set a specific goal for small business contracting.  In most cases, agencies have been instructed to follow the government's annual goal of awarding 23 percent of all prime contract monies to small businesses.  This means that out of the approximately $60 billion in stimulus funds expected to be awarded through federal contracts, about $13 billion should go to small businesses. 
 
While other disadvantaged business categories have received amounts in excess of the relevant goals, agencies have failed to meet the women-owned small business goal of 5 percent.  Rather, women-owned small businesses have received only 4 percent of all Recovery contracts.  "Until the SBA implements the Women's Procurement Program which gives contracting officers a tool to restrict competition to women-owned firms, we will continue to fall behind," said Barbara Kasoff, WIPP President.  The SBA has developed its first online training course specifically geared toward women in federal contracting: Winning Federal Contracts: A Guide for Women Entrepreneurs.  Click here to access the free course. 

Sadie Wathen, Small Business Policy Analyst

We have never had information before that relected the overall economic impact of women-owned firms.  Today we have it and it reveals the magnitude of importance that small business plays in the overall economy.

Women-owned firms produce employment for more than 23 million people in the United states, or 16% of our 2008 workforce.*.   This means that approximately 8% of the total labor force work directly for a woman-owned firm.  This is astonishing news.

But what really is remarkable, is that that 80% of the women businesses are NOT employer firms.

What would this mean to our national economic recovery if we increased the number of "employer" firms to 25%? To 30%?  How many more people would join the ranks of the employed?   

It is time to start focusing on strategies and policies to make this happen.  WIPP is asking these questions and addressing these issues directly.

*US Department of Labor, November 2008 national employment figures.