U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Supports Legislation to Improve Access to Federal Contracts

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce today announced their support and full endorsement of the Women’s Procurement Program Equalization Act (H.R. 2452) which amends the Small Business Act to increase women’s participation in government procurement.

The Women’s Procurement Program Equalization Act would end self-certification of women-owned firms thereby improving the quality, trust and ease of use for the women-owned certification process, and relieve federal contracting officers from serving as de-facto certifiers of women-owned firms.

“The federal government has never met its paltry goal of spending five-percent of contracting dollars with women-owned small businesses,” says Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce. “Women business owners lose billions of dollars every year as the federal government fails to meet its own modest goals for contracting with women-owned firms. The Women’s Procurement Program Equalization Act will help level the playing field and energize women-owned firms as our country works hard to revitalize our economy.”

“The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce thanks Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez for authoring this legislation and Co-Sponsors Ron Barber (D-AZ), Judy Chu (CA-32), Yvette Clarke (NY), Grace Meng (D-NY) and Donald M. Payne Jr. (D-NJ) for their leadership in ensuring that the Women’s Procurement Program is effective in helping the federal government to meet contracting goals,” adds Dorfman.