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Recent data indicates that the number of woman-owned businesses is not only increasing, but in some sectors, they are gaining ground in the arena of competing for (and receiving) government contracts.
Recent data indicates that the number of woman-owned businesses is not only increasing, but in some sectors, they are gaining ground in the arena of competing for (and receiving) government contracts.
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, 8.6 million firms generating $1.3 trillion in sales are now owned by women. Aside from large, publicly traded corporate entities, private women-owned businesses are the only employer classification to increase hiring since the economic downturn began in 2007. Woman-owned firms are currently employing close to 8 million full-time workers, an impressive statistic in today’s economy.
In 2011, the U.S. Small Business Administration expanded some federal contracting opportunities to include women-owned or economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses, allowing federal contracting officers to “set aside” some requirements for certain types of services to minority or woman-owned businesses.
The federal government’s target for awarding contracts to women-owned small businesses is a modest 5%, however, in almost every state and every industrial category, they have been unable to fill the 5% with contracts to woman-owned businesses.
An example of a field where WOBs are making rapid gains above and beyond the 5% minimum is for Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Disposition Services contracts, where, at the end of March, about 18% of the fiscal 2014 small business-eligible contracting dollars has been won by women-owned firms – more than 3 times the basic requirement. That’s also a higher rate than the majority of DLA Primary Level Field Activity sites, and significantly higher than most of government contract categories.
Specifically, DLA contractors dispose of the military’s excess property byreutilization within the Department of Defense, transfer to other federal agencies, and donation to state or local governments. Excess material may also be used for emergency management and humanitarian aide worldwide, foreign military sales programs. Excess property that is not disposed of in these ways may be subsequently offered for sale to the public.
DLA Disposition Services is also responsible for the management and disposal of hazardous property for Department of Defense activities, to legally dispose of hazardous materials while minimizing environmental risks and costs.
A majority of the 23 contracts totaling $13.2 million that DLA Disposition Services awarded to women-owned small businesses in 2013 were for hazardous waste disposal services (transportation and disposal of hazardous materials).
Recently the 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report identified waste management as one of the top industries for business ownership among women, and the second fastest-growing industrial sector for women in the past decade.
Seeing the growth of the waste management sectors, and specifically the DLA disposition sector, is an inspiring example of woman-owned businesses utilizing the opportunities and set-asides available to them to achieve substantial growth.
Sources: Disposition Services News Center; Wikipedia.The 2013 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report commissioned by American Express OPEN