The Current State of Women-Owned Small Business Government Contracting

As the federal government has increased focus on supporting small businesses and women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) in government contracting, Deltek has done the same through its series of live and on-demand small business contracting webinars and guides. These free resources are designed to give small business government contractors the tools they need to begin, and grow, their sales to the government market.

Deltek has produced a WOSB-focused webinar event, hosted by members of GovWin's team of government analysts that provide industry-leading market research, all supporting Deltek's GovWin IQ platform of government market intelligence.

Below, you can read a summary of some of the topics covered in the webinar, such as some of the changes and policy focuses in support of women-owned small businesses in 2024, as well as some tips for these businesses to succeed in government sales.

The Current Women-Owned Small Business Contracting Environment

The federal government continues to prioritize small businesses, awarding nearly $163 billion in contracts to small businesses in FY 2022, meeting its target. But the government did not meet its goal to spend 5% of its total federal contracting dollars on women-owned small businesses.

This March is the 13th anniversary of the federal government’s implementation of the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and the Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWSOB) programs. The Biden administration has brought an increased focus on making it easier to access small business government contracts, including for WOSBs, with new favorable programs and policies including a goal of increasing spending with Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) to 15% by FY 2025. In support of this, one of Biden’s first executive actions was designed to push federal agencies to examine barriers to small businesses, and increase equity in government contracting.

This additional support is particularly relevant to women-owned businesses that are continuing to struggle with the effects of the pandemic. According to a recent survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the number of female business owners considering the overall health of their business to be “somewhat or very good” fell 13 points during the pandemic, from 60% to 47%.

Fortunately, there are numerous resources specifically designed for women-owned businesses to better navigate the current contracting market. Gaining certification as a WOSB (a business at least 51% owned by a woman or by women) is a crucial strategy in order to qualify for certain set-aside federal government contracts that are not open to other types of businesses.

Strategies for WOSBs To Succeed in Small Business Government Contracting

One of the best ways for companies of any type to succeed in selling to the government as a small business is to stay up to date with the most recent information in their particular market segment. To that end, Deltek’s webinar explored some of the ways different federal government agencies are taking steps to overcome the barriers that small businesses, especially women-owned small businesses, are currently facing in the government contracting market. The presentation highlighted changes being made to a number of federal contracting programs that will impact women-owned government vendors.

Attendees of the on-demand webinar will learn about:

• Changes to the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program that may help improve agency goal achievement
• Key trends in WOSB/EDWOSB programs and spending
• How WOSB Federal Contracting Programs differ from other socioeconomic programs managed by the SBA
• Spotlight opportunities for WOSB/EDWOSB companies to successfully leverage the programs to win more contracts and grow their federal footprint