The Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program is outlined in Title 13, Part 127 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This regulation includes details regarding program eligibility, certification, federal contracting awards under the program, maintaining program eligibility, and more.
The below details the benefit certified firms receive of being able to compete for set-aside and sole source federal contract awards.
Once a firm has submitted a certification application and it has been approved by the SBA, the firm will receive an approval letter detailing their certification and how to maintain their certification. See below:
Figure 1: Sample paragraph from approval letter for WOSB Certification
Figure 2: Sample paragraph from approval letter for EDWOSB Certification
The primary benefit to becoming certified as a WOSB or EDWOSB within the WOSB Federal Contracting Program is the ability to compete on set-asides and sole source awards in industries SBA has determined that WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented in federal procurement. SBA identifies these industries by NAICS Industry Subsector codes. The NAICS codes where set-asides and sole source awards can be made can be found here: Qualifying NAICS for the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting program (sba.gov)
Helpful Hint: Firms certified as an EDWOSB are automatically qualified as an WOSB-certified firm. This qualification is because they are assessed for all WOSB requirements and economic disadvantage requirements. The below table outlines what set asides and sole source awards firms qualify for based upon their certification. *
| WOSB Set-Aside | WOSB Sole-Source | EDWOSB Set-Aside | EDWOSB Sole-Source |
WOSB Certification | Qualified | Qualified | Not Qualified | Not Qualified |
EDWOSB Certification | Qualified | Qualified | Qualified | Qualified |
*Note: The above table assumes the firm is qualified as a small business and operates within the NAICS code for the contract award.