New Legislation to Help Women Who Own Small Businesses (Sen. Olympia Snowe)

Perhaps one of the most overlooked and underappreciated contributors to our nation’s economy are the women who own small businesses. Throughout the past 30 years, the role that women play in the professional workplace has changed dramatically. Today, women are successfully running and operating their own businesses – proving to past generations that there are no limits to what they can achieve. The time has long since passed for the federal government to do its part to foster and support women-owned small businesses.

Last week, Senator Elizabeth Dole and I introduced the Small Business Women’s Procurement Improvement Act, which would provide enhanced contracting opportunities to women-owned small businesses across the nation. By reversing a long overdue proposed rule that the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued in December 2007, this legislation will ensure that the SBA properly implements the Women’s Procurement Program that Congress mandated in 2000.

According to the Central Contractor Registration, the proposed rule would benefit roughly 1,238 small businesses across the entire nation, or 2 percent of all women-owned small business contractors, and just two small firms in the state of Maine. Needless to say, the proposed rule is highly deficient and unlikely to have any practical effect in helping the Federal Government satisfy its five percent women’s contracting goal. The legislation Senator Dole and I have introduced will make certain that women-owned small businesses can finally have a procurement program that makes a real difference, not just a two percent difference. This is hardly the time to overlook the important role women play in the overall economy. This legislation rightly removes caps for contracts and puts the Women’s Procurement Program on equal footing with similar programs.

The fact is women are underrepresented in substantially all major industries; the Small Business Women’s Procurement Improvement Act would substantially broaden the range of business industries eligible for set-asides as part of the Women’s Contracting Procurement Program. Under the SBA’s proposed rule, women-owned businesses in just four industries could participate in the program. Moreover, one of the industries the SBA selected does not allow for any private business participation. Additionally, the bill would also preclude the SBA from promulgating a final rule that requires individual agencies to admit to past discrimination as a prerequisite for involvement in the set-aside program. Under the SBA’s proposed rule individual Federal agencies were required to publicly admit to a history of gender discrimination.

The five percent government-wide women’s contracting goal was established in 1994 but has never been met. The SBA must develop a functioning procurement program that will cultivate women business, so that they, in turn, can help grow our nation’s economy. Women-owned firms generate $1.1 trillion in annual sales and employ 7.2 million people nationwide, yet the SBA has been unable to implement a workable procurement program that provides new business opportunities for women and recognizes the significant contributions they make to our economy. The Small Business Women’s Procurement Improvement Act will go a long way in rectifying this decade-old problem. Our legislation enjoys a wide-array of broad support from major women’s organizations, including the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, Women Impacting Public Policy, the National Women Business Owners Corporation and the Women’s Business Development Center.

At a time when our economy is faltering and unemployment is rising, we should be maximizing every resource available to support our nation’s job creators. If we are to remain the most prosperous nation in the world, we can no longer afford to ignore this significant segment of entrepreneurs. The time has come for the SBA to make a commitment equal to the contributions that women-owned small businesses make to our economy.