Another Delay For Women's Set-Aside A committee of the National Academy of Sciences has thrown another roadblock in the path of the women’s set-aside program that was signed into law more than four years ago, but never implemented. The Academy’s Committee on National Statistics found that an SBA study of woman-owned businesses in federal contracting was flawed and “should not be used” as the basis for determining who is eligible for the set-aside. The committee’s recommendations amount to a call for a new study using new data and new methodology. (The study is available at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309096111/html/.) SBA spokeswoman Anne Marie Frawley said the agency is analyzing the committee’s report to decide what to do next. “We have been studied enough,” said Ann Sullivan, federal legislative consultant for Women Impacting Public Policy. “We want action.” The law signed by President Clinton on Dec. 21, 2000, created a set-aside program for woman-owned businesses in industries that were “underrepresented” in federal contracting. SBA’s Office of Federal Contract Assistance for Women Business Owners (CAWBO) completed a study in 2002 to identify the industries that met that criterion. SBA has not publicly released that study, but congressional staff members familiar with it have told Set-Aside Alert it concluded that woman-owned businesses in nearly all industries were underrepresented in federal procurement and should be eligible for the set-aside. When SBA prepared a rule to implement the program, agency officials have said, the Justice Department objected that it would not stand up to a legal challenge under Supreme Court decisions that limit affirmative action programs. SBA asked the National Academy to evaluate its study. The Academy committee faulted the study’s methodology and said it used obsolete and inconsistent data. “For these reasons, the CAWBO estimates should not be used to designate industries in which to permit the use of preferential contracting programs for women-owned small businesses,” the committee concluded. The committee was chaired by Arleen Leibowitz, professor of public policy at UCLA, and included professors of business, law and sociology, but no representatives of the women’s business community. Allegra McCullough, SBA associate deputy administrator for government contracting and business development, said in a statement, “The SBA is currently reviewing the report’s recommendations and is committed to ensure that women-owned small businesses have all the possible opportunities for federal contracting.” WIPP’s Sullivan declared, “Without help from our congressional representatives, who understand the importance of implementing the program, this will drag on indefinitely.” During the four years since the law was enacted, leaders of the House and Senate Small Business Committees have tried and failed to pass legislation forcing SBA to implement the set-aside program. In October the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce asked a federal judge to order SBA to act. The lawsuit is pending. Although Congress set a goal of awarding 5% of federal prime contract dollars to woman-owned firms, their share was less than 3% through fiscal 2003.