Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) (the nation’s largest nonpartisan women’s business group) and American Express OPEN (the nation’s leading issuer of payment card products and lines of credit for small business owners) embarked on a national partnership to launch Give Me 5: Education and Access for Women in Federal Contracts.

WIPP and American Express OPEN programmatic goals are to educate and then facilitate women business owners in securing federal procurement. What a lofty aspiration, because women business owners represent a mere 3.4% of federal contract dollars spent in the current hour. This means they are a minority in the federal procurement arena. Give Me 5 aims to increase this figure by providing resources and information that will make requirements such as registration with Central Contractor Registry (CCR) a bit less confusing. CCR registration is one of the many hurdles for aspiring federal contractors. Acquisition processes seem daunting to many emergent small business owners - no matter the demographic.

Federal Mandate:

In March of 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee stated, "Women business owners could gain more than $5 billion in annual revenues by reaching the 5% contracting goal." In 2000, Public Law 106?554 established a women's procurement program to assist the government in meeting its contracting goal of 5% with women-owned companies. Most Government organizations fall short of their annual report cards regarding this quota and the meager statistics regarding woman-owned businesses performing federal procurement reiterate this reality.

Susan Sobbott, President of American Express OPEN states, “Women business owners should have a greater share of government contracts and our partnership with WIPP is intended to make that a reality. Women-owned businesses are a driving force in the national economy, generating $2 trillion in sales and employing 13 million people."  As President of American Express OPEN, Ms. Sobbott heads the division dedicated exclusively to the success of entrepreneurs and their companies. She leads the fastest-growing proprietary business unit within American Express.

Until recently, many companies adapting to the woman-owned benefits, moved females in as figureheads without performance goals in order to attain woman-owned small business status and present value adds in federal contract submissions. However, the Give Me 5% ladies are the tour de force of small woman-owned businesses. Participants of Give Me 5% actually lead, design, direct and fulfill corporate overhead as the leaders of their organizations.

Give Me 5 Workshops:

A recent Give Me 5 Advanced Workshop, “Responding to an RFP with a Winning Proposal” was held in early October 2010. Keynote Speaker was Jiyoung Park an Associate Administrator of the Office of Small Business Utilization for the General Services Administration (GSA). Park manages and oversees GSA's small business policies and programs. The Office of Small Business Utilization strives to expand opportunities in federal government procurement for small, disadvantaged, woman-owned, historically under-utilized business zone, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

A Government participant panel was comprised of:

• Associate Administrator, Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) – Mr. Joseph Jordan
• Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Mr. Kevin Boshears
• Procurement Analyst, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) – Ms. Shawna Peterson
• US Army Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems (US Army) – Mr. Kevin Carroll

Additional, small business proposal experts included:

• American Express OPEN Advisor on Government Contracting - Lourdes Martin Rosa
• President, TargetGov - Gloria Larkin

About Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)
President of WIPP is Ms. Barbara Kasoff - a Give Me 5 Program Co-Creator - Women Impacting Public Policy is a national bi-partisan group comprising over half a million members. The non-profit organization is the public policy voice for 45 national Women in Business groups and is The Voice for Women in Business in Our Nation’s Capital. WIPP strengthens its members’ sphere of influence in the legislative process, creates economic opportunities for members and builds alliances with other small business organizations. Visit www.wipp.org.

About American Express OPEN|SM
Director of American Express OPEN is Ms. Karen-Michelle Mirko - a Give Me 5 Program Co-Creator - American Express OPEN is dedicated to the success of small business owners and their companies. OPEN supports business owners with exceptional service. With tailored products and services, the team delivers purchasing power, flexibility, control and rewards to help customers run their business. Specifically, business owner customers can leverage an enhanced set of products, tools, services and savings, including charge and credit cards, convenient access to working capital, robust online account management capabilities and savings on business services from an expanded lineup of partners. To obtain more information about OPEN, visit www.OPEN.com.

Additionally, training is available such as:

• Give Me 5 126: Introduction to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) – topics that will be covered include: A detailed by common sense explanation of the FAR and what it means; the major FAR clauses in any government contract less than $550,000. Course instructor is Barbara English, President of English Solutions
• Give Me 5 222: Joint Ventures – topics that will be covered include: What is a JV and how it differs from a Teaming Agreement; how to structure a JV Agreement; and advantages and disadvantages of JVs. Course instructor is Pamela J. Mazza, Managing Partner, PilieroMazza PLLC
• Give Me 5 350: The Importance of Debriefings: Whether you Won or Lost – topics that will be covered include: How to plan for, execute and learn from a strong debriefing; what you are allowed and not allowed to ask; who should attend on your behalf. Course instructor is Gloria Larkin, President of TargetGov
• GSA Schedule: A Tool to Help Win Government Contracts
• GSA Schedule: Getting the Most from the GSA Schedule