Federal contracting for women-owned small firms is getting a major push with a new campaign headed by the Small Business Administration along with two private-sector partners.

The new ChallengeHer initiative is one of the most ambitious promotions in recent years focused on boosting federal contracts for women, primarily through set-asides.

Set-asides under the SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program are “a very significant tool” to increase contracting for women, Barbara Kasoff, president of Women Impacting Public Policy, one of the partners in ChallengeHer along with American Express OPEN, told Set-Aside Alert.

The recently-approved law authorizing lifting the caps on set-aside awards to women-owned contractors also is expected to have a large positive impact, once the regulations are made final later this year, Kasoff said. Previously, the caps were either $4 million or $6.5 million, depending on the industry.

The hope is that through free events sponsored by ChallengeHer to raise awareness and offer training and matchmaking opportunities, more female small business owners will add their names to the WOSB registry, now about 13,000 strong, and more federal procurement offices will create set-asides exclusively for WOSB companies.

ChallengeHer will “bring more women-owned firms into the federal government’s supply chain,” Marie Johns, deputy administrator of the SBA, said at the kickoff event for ChallengeHer.

Since 2011, when the WOSB program debuted, there has been about $150 million in set-aside contracts awarded under the program, Emily Murphy, senior counsel to the House Small Business Committee, said at the kickoff event.

In addition to registering women in the WOSB program and urging federal agencies to set aside more contracts for WOSB firms, the campaign’s other primary aim is to help reach the SBA’s 5% goal for federal contracts going to women-owned firms.

In the fiscal 2011 year, 4% was attained, according to the SBA’s latest-available official figures.

The single percentage point difference represents about $4 billion in additional contracts.

Overall, the SBA reported $16.8 billion in contracts to women-owned small firms in fiscal 2011, the latest official figure available.

ChallengeHer will “bring more women-owned firms into the federal government’s supply chain,” Marie Johns, deputy administrator of the SBA, said at the kickoff event for ChallengeHer.

That broad category includes the relatively tiny amount of set-asides currently made through WOSB. It also includes contracts made through full and open competition and through other types of federal set-asides, such as those for small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, veteran-owned or HUBZone firms. Women who own small federal contracting companies often can qualify in one or more of those categories as well.

However, the WOSB program is the only federal set-aside targeted specifically to women-owned firms. It consists of 83 industry categories, including many types of construction and manufacturing, in which women-owned firms are underrepresented.

While women are competing effectively for many federal contracts even without a set-aside, having a set-aside targeted exclusively to women allows them to compete only against other women and increases their chance of success, Kenneth Dodds, director of the SBA’s Office of Government Contracting, told Set-Aside Alert.

Achieving gains through WOSB hinges on convincing federal contracting officers to utilize the WOSB set-asides, which could be challenging, he added.“It is going to take education, and getting the word out,” Dodds said.

“We need collaboration from government buyers,” agreed Benjamin Stone, director of small business and start-up development for American Express OPEN.

Women-owned small businesses have grown in recent years, according to the White House’s Small Business Dashboard.

In fiscal 2000, $4.3 billion in contracts were awarded to female vendors. By fiscal 2008, that amount had risen to $14.3 billion.

During the same period, total federal contracting more than doubled, from $206 billion to an all-time peak of $541 billion. The total has slipped each year since then, to $517 billion in fiscal 2012.

Awards to women-owned small firms measured at $15.7 billion in fiscal 2009, hit their highest point at $17 billion in fiscal 2010, and dipped to $16.6 billion in fiscal 2011 and $16.2 billion in fiscal 2012, the dashboard indicated.

ChallengeHer events:

Energy Dept. Opportunity Forum, May 23, Washington DC http://doechallengeher.eventbrite.com/#

ChallengeHer, Phoenix June 12

ChallengeHer, Seattle June 17

ChallengeHer, Denver July 16

Events also are planned in New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco and New York, and with the Health and Human Services Department.