Increasing Opportunities for Women-Owned Small Businesses
Directs Federal Agencies to Achieve Five Percent Women-Owned Contract Awards
What it does
Federal agencies must adopt strategies and set goals to ensure at least 5% of prime and subcontract awards go to women-owned small businesses each fiscal year.
Real-world impact
- Creates government-wide 5% procurement target for women-owned small businesses.
- Requires agencies to change procurement practices and develop outreach and training.
- Small Business Administration must add an Assistant Administrator and run evaluations and a public website.
Topics
Summary
This order tells federal agencies to meet or exceed a government-wide goal that at least 5 percent of prime contracts and 5 percent of subcontracts each fiscal year go to women-owned small businesses. Agencies must develop long-term strategies, set participation goals where feasible, and change buying practices to include and support these firms.
The Small Business Administration must create an Assistant Administrator for Women's Procurement to advise agencies, track progress using procurement data, run training, and build a government-wide website and registration database to help women-owned firms find opportunities.
Questions, answered
Ask questions about this executive order and its implications. Try:
- “What agencies are affected by this order?”
- “How does this order change existing policy?”
- “What are the practical implications of this order?”