To help provide a level playing field for women business owners, the government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses that participate in the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program (WOSB Program).
These contracts are for specific industries where women-owned small businesses are substantially underrepresented. Some contracts are restricted further to economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs). SBA maintains a list of those eligible industries and their North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
Of the 759 eligible industries, 646 are designated for limited competition among all WOSB Program participants, and 113 are eligible for competition among only SBA-certified EDWOSBs.
Congress requires SBA to conduct a study every five years to identify industries in which small businesses owned and controlled by women are underrepresented in the Federal marketplace. Please visit the most recent study.
