Kerry Calls For Timetable For Women's Set-Aside Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) urged SBA to set a timetable for implementing the long-delayed set-aside program for woman-owned businesses. In a statement May 25, the agency said it would begin developing regulations and would issue an RFP for an industry-by-industry study to determine eligibility for the program. The RFP has not yet been advertised in FedBizOpps. In a June 29 letter to SBA Administrator Hector Barreto, Kerry, ranking Democrat on the Senate Small Business Committee, asked for a timeline for proposed regulations and a target date for the study. President Clinton signed the Women’s Procurement Program into law on Dec. 21, 2000. It allows set-aside contracts “in industries historically underrepresented by women-owned small businesses,” and called for a study to identify the eligible industries. In March 2005 the National Academies’ Committee on National Statistics declared SBA’s original study was flawed and recommended a new one. The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce filed suit in October, asking U.S. District Court in Washington to order SBA to implement the set-aside within three months. Business and Professional Women USA and 71 Democratic members of Congress filed briefs supporting the lawsuit. SBA’s motion to dismiss the case is pending before Judge Reggie B. Walton. “Women-owned businesses will continue to lose billions of dollars every year that the administration does not meet its 5% goal as required by law,” Kerry said. “Providing assistance to women-owned businesses, which account for almost half of this nation’s employers, can help expand our economy and restore the many jobs lost since President Bush took office.”