WOSB Federal Contract Program Administration

To help level the playing field for women businesses owners, the federal government's goal is to award 5 percent of all prime and subcontracting dollars to women-owned small businesses each year. In FY2022, the federal government spent over $28.1 billion in contracting dollars with on prime contracts women-owned small businesses, about 4.57% of overall contracting dollars spentd. Contracting professionals are essential in the government’s mission to reach its 5% goal.

To help your agency meet that goal, you can create set-aside or sole-source awards for businesses that participate in the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract program.

Your responsibilities as a contracting officer in connection with the WOSB Federal Contract program are outlined in Title 13 Part 127 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and Subpart 19.15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Contracting officers will now be able to verify a firm’s WOSB Federal Contract program participation status by searching in the Dynamic Small Business Search database.

As a contracting officer, you are allowed to use set-aside and sole source contracts for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs) if the NAICS code assigned to the procurement is authorized for use under the WOSB Federal Contract program.

Note:  Not all NAICS codes are authorized for use under the WOSB Federal Contract program. SBA maintains a list of eligible industries and their NAICS codes.

• You can solicit a competitive WOSB set-aside contract if you have a reasonable expectation that at least two responsible WOSBs or EDWOSBs will submit offers and that the resulting contract can be awarded at a fair market price.
• You can award a sole-source WOSB contract if you don’t have a reasonable expectation that two or more qualified WOSBs or EDWOSBs will submit offers, determine that the qualified small business is responsible, and determine that the contract can be awarded at a fair price. The government estimate cannot exceed $7 million for manufacturing requirements or $4.5 for all other requirements. Please note that a Justification and Approval is required.

When contracts are at or below $250,000, they are automatically set aside for small businesses. If within the eligibility criteria, you may choose to set aside the contract specifically for businesses in socio-economic programs like the WOSB Federal Contract program.

Both SBA’s regulations and the FAR require you to consider socio-economic programs first for set-aside contracts above $250,000. There is no order of preference among the programs.

You must document the rationale you used to make your decision in the contract file, which includes your research and documentation of the winning contractor’s certification.

If a requirement has been accepted by SBA under the 8(a) program, it must remain in the 8(a) program unless SBA agrees to its release.

The certification process for WOSBs and EDWOSBs has changed. SBA has implemented Congress’ changes to the WOSB Federal Contract program, as put forth in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

These updated regulations make it easier for qualified small businesses to participate in the WOSB Federal Contract program by improving the customer experience. They also make it easier and more efficient for contracting officers to set aside contracts for and make awards to, firms certified as WOSBs and EDWOSBs. At the same time, SBA is also strengthening oversight and maintaining the integrity of the certification process.

The updated WOSB Federal Contract program regulations were published in the Federal Register in May 2020. These regulations detail changes to the certification process.

With the updated WOSB Federal Contract program regulations in effect:

• Contracting officers no longer have to verify a WOSB firm’s documentation. Program participation will be displayed on the firm’s Dynamic Small Business Search profile.
• SBA’s new free, online certification process for WOSBs and EDWOSBs is live on SBA’s new online portal: : wosb.certify.sba.gov.
• SBA allows participation from firms certified by SBA’s VetCert program and 8(a) Business Development Certification Program, provided they meet all eligibility requirements.
• SBA allows continued participation from businesses that utilize approved Third-Party Certifiers (TPCs) to obtain WOSB or EDWOSB certification.
• If firms currently have active contracts through the WOSB Federal Contract program, they will remain certified for those contracts through the duration of any such contracts (this applies to currently self-certified or TPC-certified).
• All WOSB firms need to take action in wosb.certify.sba.gov in order to compete for WOSB Federal Contract program set-aside and sole-source contracts. See specifics in the sections below based on status.

Please review SBA’s latest FAQs, and visit sba.gov/wosbready for more information about our application process.

A few simple steps, including market research, will set you up for success to find qualified WOSB Federal Contract program contractors. First, you can find businesses that participate in the WOSB Federal Contract program by using SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS). 

Additionally, you can:

• Contact your agency’s Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization or your Agency Small Business Specialist.
• Get guidance or training from SBA’s WOSB Federal Contract program office.
• Issue a sources sought announcement in SAM.gov seeking interested WOSB Program participants.
• Use the GSA Schedule program to find WOSBs.

Consider using language in your sources sought announcement that specifically encourages targeted small businesses to respond, along with the other federal small business categories, if applicable. Ask only for key pieces of information you need to make the set-aside or sole-source determination and include a page limit to make it easier for interested businesses to respond.

As with the other federal small business contracting programs, any interested party may challenge the program status of the winning small business. As a contracting officer, you have specific responsibilities during a protest.

A status protest is one that challenges the business’ eligibility for the WOSB Federal Contract program on the grounds of ownership and control. Status protests are made to SBA headquarters. Status protests for the WOSB Federal Contract program are processed in accordance with 13 CFR 127 Subpart F.

A size protest is one that challenges whether the business qualifies as small. Size protests are processed in accordance with 13 CFR 121 Subpart A.

Office of Government Contracting
Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract program
409 Third St. SW, Eighth Floor
Washington, DC 20416
wosb@sba.gov