2026 WPC Policy Priorities
The Women’s Procurement Circle’s mission is to advocate for policies that strengthen women-owned companies doing business with the federal government.
Increase Awards to Women-Owned Businesses: The federal government has a goal of awarding 5% of all contract dollars to women-owned small businesses (WOSB). Although the women's procurement program was implemented in 2011, the government has only met this goal twice - many federal agencies have yet to make full use of the program. According to the Small Business Administration's (SBA) FY2025 Procurement Scorecard, WOSBs received 4.52% of federal prime contract dollars, short of the 5% goal. Increasing federal contracts to WOSBs expands competition, delivers value for taxpayers, and creates a more dynamic and resilient industrial base. Therefore, the WOSB goal should be raised from 5% to 10%, with the overall small business goal increased accordingly. Congress, SBA, federal agencies, and women-owned businesses must work together to increase contracts awarded to women through this program.
Expand Sole Source Contract Opportunities for Women-Owned Businesses: As government buying continues to shift away from smaller prime contracts to small companies and toward large, consolidated contracts, the authority contained in the WOSB program to award sole source contracts is imperative. Congress should increase the sole source threshold, which rose to $5.5 million ($8.5 million for manufacturing) for the duration of the contract in the October 2025 inflation adjustment - an amount that remains too low for many of today's larger requirements. Additionally, creating parity among SBA socioeconomic contracting programs would incentivize agencies to increase their awards to women. Sole source authority is an important tool contracting officers can use to award work to WOSBs.
Maximize Women-Owned Business Awards on Governmentwide Contracts: Due to the growing popularity of category management, the government has begun to favor large, long-term contracts, in lieu of smaller, direct contracts. These long-term governmentwide contracts require substantial resources to bid and win task orders, creating a barrier to entry for many innovative small businesses to enter or remain competitive in the federal marketplace. In 2026, the General Services Administration (GSA) made its first awards under the Polaris WOSB tool, something women have sought since the WOSB program began in 2011. We encourage GSA to continue its phased awards and agencies to make full use of the pool, and we support policies that preserve opportunities for small businesses as federal procurement is consolidated.
Exclusion of Self-Certified Firms from WOSB Goals: We support H.R. 1816, the bipartisan WOSB Accountability Act, which amends Section 15(g) of the Small Business Act to require that only awards to SBA certified WOSBs (or EDWOSBs) count toward federal governmentwide and agency-specific WOSB contracting goals. The legislation passed the House by voice vote in June 2025 and is pending before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. We urge the Senate to act on this commonsense measure. We will continue to advocate for this critical change to strengthen program integrity and ensure that reported progress toward WOSB goals reflects awards to certified firms.