The Small Business Administration (SBA) will begin certification processes for the 8(m) Woman Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program on February 4, 2011. The 8(m) program is the product of much discussion and rule making for extending a set-aside status to women-owned small businesses (WOSB).
As a review: Section 811(m) of the Small Business Act of 2000 (15 U.S.C. 637) focuses on women-owned business concerns and, more specifically, economically disadvantaged women-owned business concerns. The law focuses on certain industries in which it has been determined that WOSBs have been underutilized by the Government with respect to awarded contracting dollars. The law will allow contracting officials to restrict competition to eligible WOSBs. Be advised, in order to meet this requirement the small business must be
- Owned and controlled by women (not less than 51 percent owned by 1 or more women) who are economically disadvantaged
- The term “economically disadvantaged,” means that the owner’s net worth cannot exceed $750,000.00.
If a procurement authority decides to restrict competition using the 8(m) Program, the contract must be valued at $3M (or $5M for manufacturing) or less and cover one of the 83 approved industries where WOSBs are underrepresented. A full list of the designated underrepresented business can be found at the SBA website. Please note: 8(m) set-asides will NOT be permitted in many categories of services including IT and professional, administrative and management services (NAICS sector 54-).
SBA will be the certifying agency for this program and further details about this process will be forthcoming from the agency.
Washington Technologies Releases its List Of the 20 Most Important Contracts
Every year Washington Technology Magazine issues its “annual roundup of the 20 most important contracts that are about to hit the market” and here is the new list:
- Strategic Services Sourcing 2nd Generation Agency: Army Materiel Command
- Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise Agency: Army Materiel Command
- Communication and Transmission Systems Agency: Army
- Defense Language Interpretation and Translation Enterprises
Agency: Army - Federally Funded Research and Development Center Support
Agency: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Global Tactical Advanced Communications Systems and Support Services
Agency: Army - Next Generation Enterprise Network
Agency: Navy - Electronic Commodities Store IV
Agency: National Institutes of Health - Design, Development, Demonstration and Integration
Agency: Army Space and Missile Defense Command - Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-3H
Agency: Army - Medicare Prescription Drug Integrity
Agency: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Automated Desktop Extended Processing Technology III
Agency: U.S. Postal Service - Economic Growth for Poverty Reduction
Agency: U.S. Agency for International Development - NASA Enterprise Data Center Consolidation
Agency: NASA - Training and Management Assistance Support
Agency: Office of Personnel Management - Global Information Grid Services Management – Engineering, Transition and Implementation
Agency: Defense Information Systems Agency - Integrated Mission Planning, Training and Execution
Agency: NASA - Expeditionary C4I Systems and Technical Support Services
Agency: Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command - Application Support Centers
Agency: Homeland Security Department - Advisory and Assistance Services for Global Engineering Integration and Technical Assistance 11
Agency: Air Force
For more information checkout the following website: washingtontechnology.com