The Small Business Administration's (SBA) final rule establishing the 8(m) women-owned small business (WOSB) federal contract program takes effect on February 4, 2011. Between now and then, there are several things you can do to prepare your business to take full advantage of the new program to help you win new government business.

In short, the Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program is a new program which creates set asides for WOSBs to compete against other WOSBS and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs) to compete against other EDWOSBs on manufacturing contracts up to $5 million and other contracts up to $3 million.

The new program is authorized by Section 8(m) of the Small Business Act, so many refer to the program in the shorthand name, "8(m) program." (Don't be confused, the 8(m) program is actually very different from the 8(a) program. See our knowledge article on the WOSB/8m program for a brief overview of the key differences.)

According to Anna Liisa Van Mantgem of Government Certification Specialists Inc., the best benefit of the program is a much smaller pool of competition for federal contracts for businesses working in the 83 defined NAICS codes. "Instead of competing against large companies or international conglomerates for contracts, woman owned small businesses will only compete against other woman owned small businesses for the work. This dramatically increases the likelihood of winning a federal contract."

But what should you be doing now in order to be ready for the launch of the program? Van Mantgem recommends that businesses owners understand the SBA's Compliance Guide to 8(m) program. Additionally, businesses who are already registered to do business with the government should spend the next month getting company documents and records scanned into an electronic format for quick upload into the SBA's Document Repository (once it's operational). The Document Repository is an important step in the certification process, as only businesses that certify as woman-owned can participate in the 8(m). (If you are not already registered to do business with the government, see our step-by-step Getting Started: Registering with the Federal Government guide.

There also seems to be a little confusion about whether WOSB's can or should self-certify versus getting a certification via a third party. (The SBA has yet to publically announce the list of eligible third-party certification services.)

"Each business owner will have to decide for herself if she feels comfortable self-certifying as a WOSB/EDWOSB or if she would like some help from a reputable third party certifier," Van Mantgem said. "If her business already possesses a third party certification and her third party certifier is in turn accepted by the SBA, then all she will have to do is provide the SBA with the existing certification from the third party, so this approach will make sense to a lot of companies that already possess a private certification."

Conversely, Van Mantgen noted that there are situations in which help would be beneficial to a business. For example, if a "small business owner does not yet have a private certification and the owner feels confused about which company documents are needed to self-certify, or if she is not confident that her company documentation is complete or formatted properly, then she might want some outside help to get her documentation reviewed and organized."

This is important to do because mistakes in company documentation can be accidentally misinterpreted by the SBA as intentional fraud. Also, the SBA has instructed contracting officers to file protests if they spot errors or missing items inside a WOSB’s documents.

The benefits of using an SBA-approved third party certifier include knowing that the proper documentation is complete, is formatted correctly in accordance with industry standards, and is compliant with the SBA 8(m) program rules. This in turn dramatically reduces the likelihood of protests or of being accused of fraud. However, it is entirely up to the company and their particular circumstances.

What are you doing to prepare for the launch of the new program? Do you think it'll have a postive effect on your business? Leave your thoughts in the comments.