On Wednesday, March 23, 2016, the U.S. Small  Business Administration (SBA) posted a notice on its website indicating that the on-line repository where women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) upload ownership and control documentation has been inactivated.  SBA’s notice indicates that the WOSB repository will be replaced within “several weeks” by a new portal in support of the WOSB certification program.

The new portal is located at https://certify.sba.gov however, as of March 25, the site is labeled as follows: “This site is a work in progress.”   SBA says that documents previously uploaded to the repository are to be migrated to the new site.

Small businesses that are interested in submitting an offer on a solicitation that has been set aside for WOSBs under the WOSB Program must submit a checklist of certification documentation prior to responding to a federal bid or proposal solicitation.   Before SBA’s new portal is functional, it is unknown what options WOSBs have for submitting their documents.  Once certification uploads are complete, agency Contracting Officers are responsible for checking the repository to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

SBA says that it has notified Contracting Officers (COs) that the WOSB system may be unavailable for several weeks and has instructed COs to contact the SBA with individual requests to verify self-certification compliance for specific WOSBs.

More information on the WOSB program and the features of the new portal can be found at: https://www.sba.gov/content/women-owned-small-business-program.