For immediate release
Oct. 29, 2004

U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™ files complaint against the U.S. Small Business Administration

USWCC asks court to compel administrator to implement four-year-old women's procurement program

[Washington, D.C.] The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce today filed a complaint against the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and SBA Administrator Hector Barreto in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, under the Administrative Procedure Act to compel the SBA to implement the Women's Procurement Program, Public Law 106-554, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 637(m). [View the complaint here.]

As part of the SBA reauthorization in 2000, Congress passed what was originally titled the "Equity in Contracting for Women of 2000" Act. The purpose of this Act is to "allow contracts, in industries historically underrepresented by women-owned small businesses, to be reserved for competition by women-owned small businesses."

Congress issued this mandate on Dec. 21, 2000. Nearly four years have passed and the SBA has unreasonably delayed its response to this mandate. The SBA has set, orally and in writing, a series of deadlines for accomplishing the steps necessary to implement this program, and all of these deadlines have been missed.  And, the Administrator of the SBA recently informed leaders of the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce that he has no intention of implementing the program.

The USWCC, the pre-eminent national women's chamber of commerce network representing more than 150,000 members and nearly 10 million women business owners across the U.S., has watched and waited for the SBA to act on this legislation, says CEO Margot Dorfman.

"We have heard directly from thousands of our members that their ability to gain access to government contracts has been harmed by the ongoing delay in implementing this congressional mandate," Dorfman explains.

"We needed to let the SBA leaders know our members are tired of waiting, and are losing business opportunities every day because this law has not been enacted," says Dorfman.

"For years, we have tried to work in a cooperative fashion with the SBA to get the program implemented. The agency's intransigence requires us to resort to the courts to ensure that women small business owners get the opportunities they deserve in federal contracting," she adds.

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce is represented by Covington & Burling, a prominent law firm in Washington, D.C.

"The SBA has done everything possible to stop the implementation of this important program to assist women business owners," notes Terry Williams, president of the USWCC.

"At a recent meeting, Administrator Barreto told leaders of the USWCC the current administration has no intention of implementing P.L.106-554 even though it is law. Barreto has not budgeted or requested the necessary funds, nor has he included the establishment of regulations for this program in his biannual listing of proposed regulatory actions," Williams adds.

Instead, the SBA recently reported strong growth and support for women-owned firms in federal contracting and record-breaking performance for lending to women. The details tell a very different story. Even though privately held women-owned businesses represent 30 percent of the businesses in the U.S., they still receive just 2.98 percent of federal contracts. The federal government has never achieved its extraordinarily low goal of 5 percent contracting with women-owned businesses. In FY 2003 alone, this failure represented a loss of $5.6 billion for women-owned businesses.

"Our members have watched this lack of progress, and they've asked us to help," Dorfman explains. "The foot-dragging, excuses and misleading statistics have to end, and our leaders in Washington have to get serious about delivering real support for women-owned firms."

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™ is the pre-eminent national women's chamber of commerce network whose mission is to develop leaders, accelerate economic growth and provide a community voice for women. The USWCC formed its Women's Procurement Program in 2003 as a nationwide initiative to assist women in business to make the leap to proportionate levels of economic achievement through increased success in corporate and government procurement markets. Membership in the USWCC, a not-for-profit 501(c)6 organization founded in 2001, is also growing through councils and strategic alliances across the U.S. Creating and representing the next generation of leadership for women, the USWCC is women's connection to influence, education, opportunity and advancement. Its headquarters offices are located in Washington, D.C.

For more information on the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™, please see the organization's full-feature Web site: www.uswomenschamber.com.  If you have questions, please submit them here.

Contacts:

U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™ media contact:
Jill Van Dierendonck
(800) 738-0653

U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™ contact:
Margot Dorfman, CEO
(888) 41-USWCC / (888) 418-7922