Time Expires on Bush Administration’s Women Contracting Program

Time Expires on Women Contracting Program (Dayton Business Journal, Jan. 16, 2009)

The Small Business Administration has extended the comment period regarding the Bush administration’s women’s procurement program until March 13th, 2009.  The extension provides time for the Obama administration to reformulate and  implement the program as Congress had intended during the Clinton administration.

Topic: Should the new administration offer incentives for investing in women-owned businesses?

Category:  Journalistic

What is it?  An online publication from the Dayton Business Journal

Publication Information:  Dayton Business Journal, Friday January 16th, 2009

Author:  Kent Hoover- Washington Bureau Chief

Location:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/01/12/daily92.html

Accessed:  February 23, 2009.  15:20 PST

Support:

Ann Sullivan- a lobbyist for Women Impacting Public Policy

Margot Dorfman- president and CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce

The testaments of these authorities effectively represent the positions held by organizations that carry influence to change the current federal contract procurement process.  The Small Business Administration has announced that it will continue to accept comments organizations such as the USWCC and WIPP. This means that the women contracting program that the Bush administration had planned to implement will be modified to include a wider range of industries.

Audience and Agenda:  The Dayton Business Journal is a print newspaper that includes national and local economic news.  Bizjournals is the media division of American City Business Journals, it operates the websites for each of the company’s 42 print business journals.  According to Ulrichsweb.com, The Dayton Business Journal’s circulation is 10,000 unspecified.  It receives most of its revenue through advertising and subscriptions.

Usefulness:  This article is an example of the Obama administration picking up where the Clinton administration had left off.  Under Clinton, Congress signed into law the Women Owned Business Contracting Program, but it was never implemented by either Bush administrations.  In 2000, Congress passed the Equity in Contracting for Women Act of 2000.  The Act would allow federal contracting officers to award up to 5% of all contracts to women-owned businesses.  Since the act was passed, the goal of 5% has not been reached. Throughout the G.W.  Bush administrations there were amendments to the contracting program which were met with fierce resistance.  They concerned focusing federal contracts on industries which were “under-represented” by female owners.  The WIPP and the USWCC plan to work with the Obama administration to create a more “robust” contracting program, one that will provide actual economic results.

Works Cited:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/01/12/daily92.html

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/10/aa3/b2b

http://www.wipp.org/

http://www.uswcc.org/

http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/

http://www.bizjournals.com/

http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/

http://womeninbusiness.about.com/od/womenspolitics/a/obama-wibsuppor.htm

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