Women small business owners are quicker to win their first federal contract, in comparison to their male counterparts, according to a new survey by American Express OPEN.

And the women increasingly are crediting the “WOSB” set-aside program as a useful tool for their government procurement success.

On average, it takes a small business new to the government market about two years and 4.7 unsuccessful bids before notching its first federal contract award.

It took women business owners 20 months and 4.3 unsuccessful bids, while it took the male owners 25 months and 5.0 unsuccessful bids, on average, before their first contract victory, the survey showed.

The Small Business Administration’s two-year-old Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program also is starting to have an impact.

Two years ago, only 37% of the women business owners with WOSB certifications said the designation was useful in government contracting. In 2013, 67% found it to be useful, including 28% saying it was “very useful” or “extremely useful.”

Those are just a few of the findings of the comprehensive survey of 684 small business owners. American Express OPEN designed the survey to be a representative sample of active small vendors in federal procurement.

Overall, the study shows that women-owned contractors are making significant strides in federal contracting, Julie Weeks, American Express OPEN advisor and president of Womenable consulting firm, wrote in a blog entry.

“Even though, on average, women business owners who are active federal contractors have been seeking contracts for less time than their male counterparts, they are every bit as successful in terms of overall revenue and employment, and are rapidly catching up in terms of federal contract award value,” Weeks wrote.

The women-owned small companies won $16.2 billion in federal contract awards in fiscal 2012, up from $15.7 billion in fiscal 2009. Although the increase was modest, it occurred despite the 6% downturn in all federal contract spending during the three-year period.

The WOSBs accounted for 4% of all small business federal contracts in fiscal 2012, up from 3.5% in fiscal 2009.

And the growth trend appears to be holding--or possibly even accelerating--for the first weeks of fiscal 2014. The $387 million spent on WOSB vendors as of Nov. 4 amounted to 4.8% of all eligible contracts, according to the government’s Small Business Dashboard.

The survey showed the women-owned small firms are most active in technology, health services, construction and manufacturing.

The businesswomen active in federal contracting are matching their male peers in terms of the size of their businesses. They “are every bit as economically robust as those owned by their male counterparts,” the report said.

On average, 15% of active small federal contractors employ just the owner; 15% have fewer than 10 workers, 24% have 10 to 49 workers; and 30% have 50 or more employees, the survey showed. The profile for women-owned and men-owned firms are virtually identical in those terms.

Among the largest small firms, the male-owned firms had greater revenues on average: 25% of the male-owned firms had annual sales of $5 million or more vs. 20% of the female-owned firms.

The women owners generally invested less in researching federal opportunities and making bids ($112,112 in fiscal 2012) than did the men ($137,040). “The reason for the disparity may be due to differences in industry distribution, years of contracting experience or perhaps even bidding efficiency,” the report said.

More information:
American Express OPEN survey; http://goo.gl/VlDded