Sherri Davis, owner of Paragon Force Inc., was recently named Small Business Administration’s 2020 Small Businessperson of the Year of Indiana for her success in federal contracting. To become more marketable to doing business with the federal government, Davis worked with SBA resource partners and her local Procurement Technical Assistance Center to receive a Women-Owned Small Business designation. As a “WOSB,” Davis competed for and won contracts with the Department of Defense to deliver critical management support services.
Every year, the federal government’s goal is to award at least 5% of all federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses. SBA’s WOSB Federal Contracting Program is on the frontlines of helping these businesses succeed. In the summer of 2020, the WOSB Program will be transitioning from a small business self-certification to a new formal certification program. This change will help better empower agencies across the federal government to meet the 5% contracting goal for women-owned small businesses.
The SBA has started a campaign called, WOSB Ready, to enable and encourage women-owned small businesses to get prepared and ready to do business with the federal government. If you’re interested in government contracting, review our guide to federal government contracting. Women-owned small businesses can learn more and stay up-to-date with program changes at https://www.sba.gov/wosbready.
SBA also has multiple valuable resources to assist women-owned small business to access the WOSB Program. Small businesses can visit their local resource partner or procurement technical assistance center (PTAC) for one-on-one assistance. You can find your nearest resource partner or PTAC at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance.
SBA has partnered with Women Impacting Public Policy and American Express for the past six years on a national initiative called, ChallengeHER, to boost government contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses and provide support through training.
SBA remains committed to helping business owners like Sherri Davis have success doing business with the federal government.