Increasing small and emerging businesses’ participation in federal contracting is a winning proposition: it boosts critical economic actors, while also affording the government higher quality and low-cost purchasing options. The Women-Owned Small Business contracting program should help achieve this goal by narrowing the large gap between the universe of WOSBs eligible to sell to government, and the far smaller number of those companies who actually certify their status and bid on contracts.

NWBC has commissioned research by the Library of Congress’s Federal Research Division to determine the impact of differences between small business contracting programs, and their beneficiaries’ experiences with federal procurement. With this knowledge, agencies and private sector will be able to refine program administration to maximize opportunities for WOSB participants, and to diminish disparities in success in the federal marketplace.

This report includes FRD’s initial findings from a literature and data review regarding the WOSB contracting program.