Set-Asides On Women's Contracts Criticized

The SBA said that it did attempt a timely implementation. However, the agency says such an undertaking was a "complex and controversial responsibility" because gender-based preference programs are subject to intense constitutional scrutiny. In 2001, the agency completed an initial study, which generated questions in the review process, spurring the National Academy of Sciences to perform an independent review.

Afterward, the SBA contracted with Rand Corp. to perform another analysis. Rand measured underrepresentation in dollar value and the number of contracts awarded to women-owned small businesses, which resulted in identifying the four underrepresented industries.

Margot Dorfman, chief executive of the chamber, said that after fighting for more than a decade, she's feels like she is being sabotaged.

"It just amazes me that the SBA is continuing to block women-owned firms from accessing government contracts," she said.

The House and Senate small-business committees plan to hold oversight hearings this month on the proposal.

"It is insulting," Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate small-business committee. "It is not a legitimate effort to enforce congressional intent or the needs of women."

Norma Byron, president of the Alexandria-based Ashlawn Group, the country's only woman-owned munitions designer, said she can't believe the proposal doesn't consider her company a minority. Byron said she faces gender bias, despite her extensive background in firearms and ammunition.

"People think that because my business is woman-owned, my husband really owns it and I'm just a figurehead," Byron said. "My husband is a photographer, and I've been in munitions business for 30 years."

It can be difficult at times to challenge the status quo in pursuing work, said Indy Freeman, president of TeknoLogix, a McLean-based firm that helps companies pursue federal contracts.

"You have to come up against the big boys, who have that old boys network and old boys mentality," Freeman said.

The government's recent preference for hiring one large company to manage several smaller projects also makes the idea of capping individual projects at $3 million unfeasible, said Faye Coleman, president of Westover Consultants in Bethesda.

According to a Women Impacting Public Policy study, 78 percent of women-owned business do not enter the contracting arena because of cost, complexity and the perceived impossibility of obtaining a contract.

"We've been waiting a really long time, and frankly we deserve better," Byron said.