Tag Archives: SBA

It’s Here! WIPP’s National Directory of Women Federal Contractors

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WOSB Directory

WIPP is excited to announce the launch of its National Directory of Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) in the federal contracting arena. This directory is a great resource, which allows you to find qualified women contractors across the US. In order to be listed, you must first be a WIPP member and complete the WIPP Federal Contracting Certificate Program, a step-by-step training program for women business owners ready to become more involved in federal contracting or are already an experienced contractor with past performance. If you are looking to fill contract opportunities or are seeking a teaming partner, WIPP’s National WOSB Directory can help you find the highly qualified WOSB contractors with credible past performance to fit all of your contracting needs.

The goal of this directory is to build and promote a list of qualified WOMEN contractors so that at least 5% of federal contracts will be going to women-owned businesses. There are currently over 110 women-owned small businesses in the federal contracting arena listed in the WIPP National Directory. Help us reach our goal and complete the Certificate Program or check out the list today.

Also don’t forget to check out WIPP’s other federal contracting education resources:

For more information about the WIPP Federal Contracting Certificate Program or WIPP’s National WOSB Directory please contact Lin Stuart, WIPP’s Procurement Manager at lstuart@wipp.org.

Share WIPP’s Directory on Twitter: WIPP Launches National WOSB Directory n the Federal Contracting Arena http://bit.ly/1FnlxKp #WOSB #WIPP #FederalContracting #WomeninBizBlog

Sole Source Marches Forward

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by Ann Sullivan, WIPP Government Relations

Just a few days ago, the Small Business Administration announced a proposed regulation that puts in motion sole source authority for the WOSB procurement program.

SBA did a very wise thing—it separated out the sole source authority piece from the certification portions of the law. Why? Because sole source authority is standard language included in the HUBZone and Service-Disable Veterans programs. It is not a heavy lift to basically cut and paste the language into the WOSB program.

The certification piece, on the other hand, is not standard language. Each small business program administered by SBA has different certification requirements. The law also reads that SBA doesn’t have to put in place a certification program for WOSBs. SBA can choose to accept other federal agency, state certifications or 3rd party certifications. Or, SBA could establish its own certification for WOSBs if it so chooses.

This determination will require a thorough examination of resources SBA can devote to establishing and policing the certification and whether it could launch a program without significant delays as have been experienced in other programs.

Yet another consideration SBA will have to make is what to do with the tens of thousands of women who self-certified for the program. Without a proper transition, the program would be thrown into chaos.

For these reasons, the certification part of the law needs much more consideration and public comment than does the sole source portion of the law.

Now you need to take action. If you agree with SBA’s expeditious implementation of sole source, you need to let your voice be heard. Go to www.regulations.gov. Keyword: SBA. Click on the regulation and you will see the opportunity to comment. Let the SBA know that women business owners are waiting excitedly on this change.

In case you are not familiar with sole source authority, it allows contracting officers to award a sole source award through the WOSB procurement program, given the contracting officer does not have a reasonable expectation that two or more businesses will submit offers. Sole source contracts through the program are limited to $4-6.5 million depending on the industry.

SBA has taken the first step toward putting the WOSB procurement program on equal footing with other SBA programs. We expected no less.

More Taxes? No Taxes? How About Fair Taxes

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By John Stanford, WIPP Government Relations

WIPP recently submitted testimony to the House Small Business Committee on comprehensive tax reform. This blog gives an overview of WIPP’s advocacy efforts. For more details, I encourage you to read the testimony. Our government relations team strives to make official communications as easy-to-read as possible, but should you have questions please reach out to WIPP.   

 

Women entrepreneurs deserve a tax system that rewards the effort, tenacity, and risk it takes to start and grow a business. Moreover, they deserve a system of revenue collection (because that’s what taxes are) that is simple and fair.

In testimony submitted to the House Small Business Committee, WIPP said just that. Citing reports from the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate as well as the SBA Office of Advocacy, the testimony documents what women business owners already know: the tax system is broken, failing under the weight of complexity, uncertainty and outdated policies. But more importantly, the testimony addresses the impact of possible reforms – and the need for any overhaul to be comprehensive.

What does that mean? It means that the idea to lower the corporate tax rate, favored by the White House and some in Congress, must not happen independently of adjusting individual rates in a similar manner. This distinction matters because so many businesses, including almost 9 in 10 women-owned businesses, are structured as “pass-through” entities paying taxes as individuals (including S-Corps, Sole-proprietorships, partnerships, and LLCs).

Corporate-only reforms would be unfair to these businesses – and for that reason WIPP has always supported comprehensive (corporate + individual) reform. The testimony underscored this important point.

In addition, WIPP identified tax policies that, absent major reforms, would benefit women entrepreneurs. This includes making more small business tax credits and deductions permanent. In recent years, these tax “extenders” have been extended (hence their name) at the last minute, or even retroactively – not a good way for business owners to plan their budgets.

WIPP also asked Congress to consider tax credits that benefit new businesses, helping offset the costs of launching a new company. Another policy request was to avoid changing the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) provisions in the tax code, as these have proven to be both popular and good tools to incentivize productivity and long-term business health.

In agreement with the idea that simple businesses (sales – costs = income) should have simple taxes, WIPP also supports simplifying the cash accounting method and expanding its optional use to more small businesses. Finally, with healthcare costs an always-growing burden on employers, WIPP continues its support of expanding the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit so more women entrepreneurs minimize the cost of providing healthcare to employees.

More ideas for reforming the tax system to incentivize entrepreneurship and innovation are out there. WIPP will continue working to identify policies that let women business owners focus more on their business and less on complex tax requirements. At the end of the day, all of these decisions should be made with the basic principles of simplicity and fairness in mind. And that’s exactly what we asked Congress to do.

A Big STEP for Small Business

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by Abby Ware, WIPP Government Relations  

Thinking about exporting, but have no idea where to start? Take a look at the Small Business Administration’s State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) program. As state governments receive funding from the STEP program in coming months, small businesses will have increased access to emerging trade opportunities and export support initiatives. Utilizing the STEP program is what JM Grain of Great Falls, Montana did when it decided it wanted to export lentils and chickpeas. The STEP grant allowed JM Grain to attend a Gulfood Trade Show in Dubai, exposing the small business to new markets and an estimated $600,000 in additional export sales.

The STEP program is a federally funded pilot program with two objectives: 1) increase the number of U.S. exporting small businesses, and 2) increase export value for small businesses that already export. State governments apply and match the funds with a federal to state ratio of 75% to 25% (65% to 35% for high exporting states). STEP activities are then provided and managed at the local level by state government organizations.

Small businesses in the State of Washington in particular have benefitted from STEP, better equipping Washington to incorporate trade-promoting programs such as Export Voucher. The Export Voucher program provides up to $5,000 to small businesses for export-related expenses for companies that want to export.  Washington has also provided financial counseling and targeted support for women, veteran and minority-owned businesses through STEP funding. More information on Washington’s efforts can be found here.

To see if a state already participates and receives STEP grants, go to this link and talk to them about their small business assistance.  Every state deploys its federal STEP program in different ways, so it is important to contact the office listed on the map.

National Women’s Business Council Releases 2014 Annual Report

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NWBCThe dawn of the New Year provides an excellent opportunity to review the successes of 2014, and to assess areas of improvement for 2015. The National Women’s Business Council’s annual report, “Building Bridges: Leveraging Research and Relationships to Impact the Business Climate for Women” does exactly that, providing us with an overview of women entrepreneurship, including a summary of key research findings, policy recommendations and the Council’s agenda in the year ahead. The report rests on NWBC’s four pillar platform- access to capital, access to markets, job creation and growth, and data collection- and confirms what many of us already know, that the full economic participation of women is essential to economic growth in the U.S.

Access to capital remains a key issue for women business owners. In order to better understand the ways in which women business owners accessed capital, NWBC worked with the SBA to analyze loan data, partnered with Walker’s Legacy to host a round-table specific to women of color and access to capital, and commissioned new research on under-capitalization. The research shows a direct link between access to capital and revenue generation, with men starting their businesses with nearly twice as much capital as women, a disparity which increases among firms with high growth potential. The report highlights crowdfunding as an important new resource for women business owners seeking capital.
The NWBC also focused much research on access to markets for women business owners, using WIPP’s own ChallengeHER campaign as a building block for identifying best practices in government procurement. Thanks to the Women Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, more and more federal contracts are being awarded to women owned small businesses. However, disparities still remain in regard to award amount between WOSBs and non-WOSBs, most likely as a result of different contract types.
In 2013, the Council called for an increase in the number of women owned or led firms in incubators and accelerators in an attempt to increase job creation and growth. In 2014, the Council honored this commitment, through championing the SBA’s Office of Investment and Innovation’s Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, convening a public meeting on STEM, entrepreneurship, and women, and commissioning new research on micro-businesses and accelerators and incubators. Research shows that women with dependent children are less likely to add additional employees, indicating that child care burdens are still a significant obstacle to the growth of women owned small businesses.
The report concludes with a number of different, concrete strategies for each pillar, building off of past success while also acknowledging areas for improvement. Among many other things, the NWBC recommends: tax credits for investors who finance women-owned and led firms; creating opportunities to align women business owners with government and corporate procurement officials; improvement of the availability and timeliness of government and private sector data on women owned small businesses; the implementation of the sole source authority for the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (yay!).
The National Women’s Business Council is a crucial resource for women entrepreneurs and business owners. The research and recommendations they provide acts as a road map for the success of women entrepreneurs, success which is reached through hard work, partnerships and persistence. 2014 was a great year for women entrepreneurs, and 2015 looks just as promising.