October 5, 2010. Today, the Small Business Administration released the final rule which will implement the Women’s Procurement Program, enacted into law in the year 2000. When enacted, contracting officers will have the ability to restrict competition to women-owned small businesses if the procurement falls within one of the eighty-three (83) North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.

For eleven long years, women business owners have anxiously awaited final implementation of the Women’s Procurement Program. Thanks to Administrator Karen Mills and her team, the program is finally underway. It is believed that increased federal contracting opportunities will give women business owners a chance at growing their business.

Important to the program’s success is a change made in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 which restored "parity among all of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) small business contracting programs. The program will be considered equal to any other small business contracting program.