WOSB to need 3rd party Certification

With little fanfare, Congress just passed legislation eliminating the ability of WOSBs to self-certify for purposes of WOSB set-aside contracts.

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act rewrites the portion of the Small Business Act governing WOSB set-asides, deleting what I have called the “trust but verify” option: the ability for putative WOSBs to self-certify as such, then back up their self-certifications by submitting supporting documentation to the WOSB Document Repository.  Instead, the 2015 NDAA would appear to require a formal certification in order for a small business to be awarded a WOSB set-aside contract.

Section 825 of the 2015 NDAA is entitled “sole source contracts for small business concerns owned and controlled by women.”  As the title suggests, the 2015 NDAA authorizes sole source awards for WOSBs and EDWOSBs–more on that soon in a separate blog post.  But the NDAA also amends the portion of the Small Business Act dealing with WOSB set-asides generally.  15 U.S.C. § 637(m)(2) currently states, in relevant part:

(2) Authority to restrict competition

In this way, the Small Business Act currently provides that a company can qualify for a WOSB set-aside contract in two ways: either by formal certification, or by self-certification accompanied by the submission of documents backing that certification.

The 2015 NDAA amends 15 U.S.C. §  637(m)(2)(E) to delete the self-certification option.  After the amendment, the statute will read, in relevant part, as follows: