News From the
Committee on Small Business
Nydia M. Velázquez, Chairwoman

For Immediate Release
March 21, 2007

CONTACT: Jeff Giertz (Braley), (202) 226-4026

Committee Finds Women-Owned Businesses Lose Billions as Administration Fails to Take Steps to Meet Contracting Goals

WASHINGTON – Despite their sizable contribution to the economy, representing one-third of all small business owners, women are still not getting their fair share of procurement opportunities.  The House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology reviewed the state of procurement for women-owned businesses and what steps need to be taken to open the federal marketplace to women.

“Women entrepreneurs make vital contributions to our economy, and their contributions should be reflected by a fair share of the federal marketplace,” said subcommittee Chairman Bruce Braley. “By ensuring women-owned small businesses have access to federal contracts, we can develop firms that will in turn help develop their communities.”

Women business owners from different industries and regions emphasized the importance of access to the federal marketplace, particularly for those in industries where women have been traditionally disadvantaged. While the government-wide women-owned small business goal is 5 percent, these firms received only 3.34 percent of federal contracting dollars. As a result, women lost $5.2 billion in contracting opportunities.

“We should spend our federal dollars in accordance with our values—in a way that expands opportunity, spreads prosperity, and builds communities,” Chairman Braley said. “Women-owned businesses are an increasingly significant part of our economy and should be treated as such.”

In an attempt to correct the ongoing imbalance, the Women’s Procurement Program was created in 2000.  The initiative would significantly increase the likelihood that women-owned companies receive government contracts in industries where they have been traditionally underrepresented.  Over six years later, the SBA has still not completed the necessary steps toward implementing the program.

“Women are a growing and vital segment of the small business community, and they are woefully underrepresented in the federal marketplace,” said Chairman Braley. “Congress recognized the magnitude of this problem when it created a program to direct more federal contracts to women-owned businesses over six years ago. This committee will continue to make sure the administration implements this initiative and fully includes women in the work done for our federal government.”

The four agencies that appeared before the committee today together comprise a substantial segment of the federal market and have been consistently notable in their failure to meet their stated goals for contracting with companies owned by women. These entities are a sampling of those evaluated in a 2005 Small Business Committee Democrats report that looked at the failure of federal agencies to meet their goals for contracting with women-owned companies.  For many agencies, those goals were significantly below the government-wide goal of five percent—a level the Bush administration has never achieved.

“Major federal agencies like these should be leaders in ensuring that small and women-owned businesses have fair access to the marketplace,” said Chairman Braley. “Instead, we have heard from women business owners around the country that important opportunities to do business with the federal government remain closed to them. That is unacceptable and demands continued oversight by this committee.”

This hearing was the first in a series to be held by the House Small Business Committee on reforming federal government contracting practices in advance of legislation to be introduced this spring restructuring how entrepreneurs enter the federal marketplace.

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