In addition to being a leader in telecom expense management, Valicom is also proud to be a 100% woman owned, women’s business enterprise (WBE), certified by WBENC through the Women’s Business Development Center(WBDC) of Chicago, and by NWBOC.
Thus it is with great pleasure that we see the Women’s Procurement Program of the SBA will finally be fully implemented. As this press release from WIPP covers, it means that woman owned businesses in the US will be given the higher representation they deserve. Valicom is ready and waiting to serve local, state and federal government agency’s supplier diversity needs. Send us those RFPs!
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Victory – SBA Announces Full Implementation of Women’s Procurement Program
Washington, D.C. – October 5, 2010 – Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) applauds the release of the final rule which will implement the Women’s Procurement Program, enacted into law in the year 2000. When enacted, contracting officers will have the ability to restrict competition to women-owned small businesses if the procurement falls within one of the eighty-three (83) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
"For eleven long years, we have anxiously awaited final implementation of the Women’s Procurement Program. Thanks to Administrator Karen Mills and her team, the program is finally underway,” said Barbara Kasoff, President of WIPP. "WIPP’s efforts led the way to ensure that women contractors have the opportunity to receive their fair share of contracting dollars. We believe that increased federal contracting opportunities will give women business owners a chance at growing their business,” added Kasoff.
Since 2008, our Give Me 5 Program (www.GiveMe5.com) has helped increase the number of women-owned businesses registered on the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) by over 30%. The CCR is the government database that was used to determine the number of eligible industries in the new program. Along with advocacy for passage and implementation of the Program, WIPP’s educational initiatives have worked to build the pool of women-owned businesses ready to bid on federal contracts.
Important to the program’s success is a change made in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 which restored "parity” among all of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) small business contracting programs. The program will be considered equal to any other small business contracting program. This issue is highlighted in WIPP’s Economic Blueprint: The Women Business Owners’ Platform for Growth, unveiled during the WIPP 2010 Annual Leadership Conference. The Blueprint serves as WIPP’s voice regarding challenges unique to small businesses that require action by our elected officials.