Barreto Pledges Action on Women's Set-Aside Implementing the long-delayed set-aside contracting program for women-owned businesses is “a priority,” SBA Administrator Hector Barreto said. He said SBA will award a contract shortly for a study to determine eligibility for the set-asides. The study was delayed until Congress provided money for it in SBA’s fiscal 2003 appropriation. The appropriations bill cleared Congress Feb. 13. Speaking to a meeting of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Washington Feb. 10, Barreto said a contractor had already been selected to do the study. “This is a priority for us,” he said. “This is something we want to move along as quickly as possible.” The study will determine who qualifies for the set-aside program. In authorizing it more than two years ago, Congress set up a two-tiered program: small firms owned by “economically disadvantaged” women will be eligible for set-aside contracts in industries where women are “underrepresented” in federal contracting; all women-owned small businesses will be eligible in industries where women are “substantially underrepresented.” The law does not define the terms “substantially” or “underrepresented.” An initial study was completed early last year, but SBA and the Office of Management and Budget rejected it. SBA officials said it did not prove that women were being shut out of federal contracting because of discrimination, so the program might not stand up in court under the Supreme Court’s Adarand decision limiting affirmative action programs. (SAA, 5/3/02) “We are committed to doing (a study) that will pass all scrutiny,” Barreto said. “We need to make sure that we have the research to back it up.” The original study found women-owned firms were underrepresented in 66 of the 71 industries surveyed, according to a report by Democratic members of the House Small Business Committee. SBA has not released the study. SBA’s deputy administrator, Melanie Sabelhaus, highlighted other Bush administration initiatives that she said will help women-owned firms as well as all other small businesses, including the unbundling initiative and a series of matchmaking events around the country co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Sabelhaus represents SBA on the President’s Management Council, made up of the second-ranking executives of departments and agencies. “Our approach is to shame them into being sure they are focusing on women,” she said. Congress has set a goal of 5% of federal contract dollars for women-owned firms, but the government has never reached even half that.