

If you’re a woman small business owner who wants to do business with corporate or government clients, you know there’s a lot of competition. But you can get an edge by getting your company certified as a woman-owned business.
Whether you’ve never thought about getting certified, have considered it, or are already certified you should know the Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed to amend its certification process. New regulations are expected to be published this summer.
There are two types of woman-owned business certifications. The Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) certification is for businesses wanting to do business with the private sector, nonprofits, state governments, or local governments.
For those wanting to work with the federal government, your goal is certification from Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB). In this article, we'll be discussing the WOSB and EDWOSB certifications.
To be eligible for the women’s contracting program, your business must:
To qualify as an economically disadvantaged business within the women’s contracting program, your business must:
The eligibility requirements to qualify as a WOSB or an EDWOSB are fully defined in Title 13 Part 127 Subpart B of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). You can also get a preliminary assessment of whether you qualify at the SBA’s Certify website.
Per the Office of Advocacy, the proposed rule would:
Perhaps the biggest change to affect participation in the elimination of self-certification. Businesses will need to certify through an approved third-party entity or go through the SBA’s free online certification at certify.sba.gov.
If you’re already certified through a third-party or the SBA, you’ll need to get re-certified: “Third-party certified firms must re-certify three years after the date of their most recent re-certification as a third-party certified firm.”
For self-certified WOSBs or EDWOSBs with active WOSB or EDWOSB set-aside contracts, your business is still certified throughout the life of the contract. If the contract is more than five years, however, the business must get re-certified by SBA or an approved third-party certifier before the end of the fifth year of the contract.
If your business is self-certified and has no active contracts, you must re-certify with the SBA or approved third party at a date dependent on the last time your business was examined by the SBA.
Being certified as a woman-owned business doesn’t guarantee anything, but it can help you gain an advantage with potential clients.
You can stay updated on the upcoming certification changes on the SBA contracting website or check with a SCORE mentor.
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Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.