This benefits agencies by allowing them to award small contracts more efficiently, and it benefits small contractors by removing certain administrative burdens that can be costly and can result in early elimination from consideration for award. Due to these advantages, 15 percent of small business awards are awarded through sole source  contracts to other traditionally disadvantaged groups.78 The inability of agencies to utilize this tool to award small contracts to women-owned small businesses puts the WOSB Procurement Program and the women it seeks to assist at a disadvantage.

The WOSB Procurement Program is implemented poorly, with statutory and regulatory burdens that prevent its efficient use by agencies charged with meeting the women-owned small business contracting goal. That poor implementation is exacerbated by outdated industry classifications, created by the narrowly-focused disparity study, and a lack of sole source authority that makes using the program harder for federal contracting officers. These challenges for the program combine to place an undue burden on women attempting to contract with the federal government.

Despite continued efforts to improve federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses, the federal government has yet – since the goal was created – to reach its 5 percent contracting goal. To improve contracting procedures and finally achieve that goal – allowing access to more than $500 billion in annual federal procurement opportunities – Congress should:

• Enact legislation to allow sole source contracts to be awarded to women-owned small businesses and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses through the WOSB Procurement Program. This will give contracting officers an additional tool by which to increase the participation of women-owned small business in the federal market, and it puts the WOSB Procurement Program on a more even footing with the other federal contracting programs designed to benefit certain historically disadvantaged socioeconomic classes of small businesses.
   
• Accelerate the due date for the updated disparity study, which SBA must conduct to determine those industries in which women-owned small businesses are underrepresented, from 2018 to 2015. This could potentially open hundreds of new contract opportunities within new industry NAICS codes to women-owned small businesses.

At the end of the day, women business owners should have the same tools that other small businesses have available to them. Providing women-owned firms with a sole source mechanism would ensure that contracting programs for all small businesses are treated the same. This would also improve the likelihood that women will receive at least $4 billion additionally each year that they should receive in government contracts.

Further, an outdated study of under-represented industries is the underpinning of the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract program and works against congressional efforts to diversify the government’s supply base, and possibly strengthen our national security, because women are only allowed contracting benefits in industries that have historically been closed to them. Rather than waiting until 2018 for the results of the new study of under-represented industries, women should have access to this information much more expeditiously, which will likely result in increased opportunities in many industries. By the time the new study is available in 2018, the data for the first study – still in effect until the new study results are released – will be nearly 15 years old."