Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) Certification
In 2019 Women-Owned Small Businesses were awarded over $23 billion in Federal Contracts
Our Women-Owned Small Business Certification Specialists are standing-by to handle your Registration processes and ensure your WOSB accesses the Federal Contracts it deserves
Advantages of Registering your WOSB Small Business
In 2011congress instated the WOSB program to give female business owners the opportunities they need to enter and excel in industries that women have had historically disproportionate access to.
More specifically, it established a system where federal awarding and procurement officers could set-aside contract bidding opportunities for WOSB certified organizations. Soon after the WOSB program was revised through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 to include an amendment that let female business owners receive a portion of exclusive sole-source contracts as well.
Now federal government reserves 5% of the annual contracts that they allocate to businesses each year for WOSBs. That translates to billions of dollars in exclusive work opportunities which other registered businesses in the federal marketplace can’t compete for.
For Reference: In 2019 the federal government allocated $560 billion into annual contract spending, and over $26 billion of that fund was enacted for the sole purposes of supporting WOSB organizations with exclusive awards and contracting opportunities. But that’s only part of the total benefits that registered female business owners are given.
- Sole Source Awards – Sole Source Law says that a portion of all federal contracts must be awarded directly to qualified WOSB organizations.
- Set-Aside Awards – Set-aside contracts and grants provide competitive opportunities that only WOSB registered businesses can bid on.
- Special Preference –Women-owned small businesses also receive preferential review when bidding on open-bid contracts that the rest of the federal marketplace is competing for.
- Subcontracting Options – WOSB organization are able to subcontract on the job opportunities they earn. That way the size of a women-owned small business doesn’t determine whether or not it can access lucrative federal jobs.
- Private Sector Opportunities – WOSB certification goes beyond eligibility for federal benefits, it also grants access to exclusive contracting opportunities from the private sector.
WOSB Program Qualifications
To register and qualify for WOSB status with the federal government, an organization must meet all the following criteria:
- Qualifies for Small Business Status and is not currently part of the WOSB program
- Over 51% owned and controlled by women who are U.S. citizens
- A full-time female employee must hold the highest official position
- Executive women head day-to-day and long-term operations
Ways to Certify: FAMR or DIY
To gain access to WOSB opportunities organizations first need to undergo a comprehensive registration process with the federal government, where the difference between certification approvals and denials is frequently offset by the smallest clerical errors.
The entire registration and certification processes take between roughly 60 – 70 hours, and that doesn’t count for the necessary follow-up work of certification renewals, change-in-business updates, and more.
FAMR – Let Us Register Women-Owned Small Business
When getting started we’ll ask you to send over some basic information and explain what to expect from your business’ registration and certification process.
We’ll Handle the Rest from There
Our Certification Specialists are dedicated to your organization’s success, and experts at the exhausting art of complex form-filling. We’ll stay with you every step of the way during the long federal registration process, keeping you informed with frequent updates and cooperating to ensure your business is found by awarding and procurement officers that offer the opportunities that benefit you the most.
Once your WOSB successfully enters the federal marketplace, we’ll stay with you to help with registration renewals and review your federal account to make sure everything is accurate, compliant, and optimized for the government contracts and awards you apply for in the future.
- Effortless Registration – Faster, Easier, and more Reliable than manual registration. You provide your business info and we’ll take care of everything else.
- Teammates you can Trust – FAMR’s certification specialists are a passionate team that specializes in registering qualified businesses to work alongside the federal government. We’ve helped businesses of all kinds achieve certification status and are more than happy to walk you through every step of your WOSB certification process to assure your confidence.
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(855) 335-0215
DIY – Registering your Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Alone
Right now, women small business owners who are willing to research the lengthy federal certification process may file for WOSB status themselves by way of a third-party certifier for Federal Contracts only.
But that likely won’t be true for long. Due to a legal loophole that’s allowed a slew of unqualified businesses to wrongfully self-register and access WOSB benefits, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is in the process of eliminating WOSB self-registration options by 2020—and has grown much stricter in their review of current certification statuses. This is largely because in March of 2019, the Government Accountability Office reported roughly 40% of WOSB-certified businesses were improperly admitted into the program.
To become eligible for WOSB status after this change, organizations will have to seek out third-party WOSB certifiers that have been previously approved by the SBA. So, if a business wants to self-register for WOSB status they better get started soon.
But keep in mind: The federal government requires a lot of information to certify your business—and all of it needs to be submitted flawlessly.
If a WOSB submits their certification application with errors, those business owners might need to restart the entire registration process again under even harsher guidelines. Not to mention, with the limited time left for WOSB self-registration in mind, that kind of delay can be detrimental to a business’ final certification status.
On top of that, if the WOSB does manage to receive approval despite some clerical errors when filing, that faulty information can go on to create payment delays and negatively impact an organization’s ability to win future contracts.
- Dozens of Registration Hours – Registering WOSB status with the federal government is a time consuming process that takes dedicated effort, patience, and close attention-to-detail.
- DIY – Until the SBA’s new reformations pass, this self-registration
process can be completed by business owners who learn how to accurately file their WOSB information with an SBA approved third party certifier.