Today's Women-Owned Businesses have become the pacesetters in entrepreneurship. On May 18, 1979, Executive Order 12138 was signed and created a National Women's Business Enterprise Policy. The Executive Order directs all federal agencies to take action to facilitate and strengthen women-owned business enterprises and to ensure full participation by women in the free enterprise systems. Although no set-aside authority exists, DOE makes every effort to identify and advise women business owners of contracting opportunities and to encourage their participation in DOE procurements.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation also requires agencies to actively encourage their prime contractors to use women-owned small businesses as subcontractors. Contracts valued as $100,000 or more include a clause to achieve this objective. The Women-Owned Business Program is governed under 48 CFR Subpart 19.9.  Public Law (P.L.) 100-656 provides for a means to monitor the number of subcontracts awarded to women. The OSDBU sets women owned subcontracting goals with prime contractors, and provides lists of women owned firms that match the subcontracting needs of the primes.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) is responsible for the management and development of DOE programs to assist small businesses. The office oversees the activities of offices at each Headquarters, Field, Laboratory and Prime Contractor activities. Our mission is to ensure that small, small disadvantaged and women owned small businesses are provided the maximum practicable opportunities to participate in DOE's prime contracts and subcontracts in all areas of the department.

Increasing Government Contracts^*
Over the last several years, women-owned small businesses have been winning an increasingly greater share of federal procurement dollars.

In 2000, these businesses received 2.3 percent of the federal government’s $200 billion in contracts.  That share has steadily increased:

2001 – 2.49 percent
2002 – 2.5 percent
2003 – 2.98 percent
2004 – 3.03 percent
2005 – 3.2 percent
2006 – 3.4 percent

^* Information and statistics provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Women Business Center.