Boulder Networks is a woman-owned IT Supplier to the Federal Government.  We can subcontract with larger suppliers to meet End-User requirements such as: needing to sell-through an 8(a), or woman-owned set-aside requirement.  Our expertise is in finding solutions for the end-user as well as teaming with larger Federal Systems Integrators, to satisfy contract requirements for small business.

Good news for Federal Systems Integrators seeking small businesses: Boulder Networks qualifies for many contracts for special federal set-asides. Beginning in 2011, a Small Business Administration ruling mandated contracting officers to set aside a certain amount for Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Small Businesses (EDWOSB).  

Agencies are looking towards Boulder Networks to satisfy their Federal Small business requirements. Currently, teaming and subcontracting with larger suppliers is considered satisfactory to achieving these goals if all FAR requirements are met. The contracting goal across the federal government is to award 5% of federal contracts to women-owned small businesses.  

The Small Business Act of 1953 states that small businesses should receive a fair proportion of federal contracts and those small businesses should have the maximum opportunity to participate in federal contracting. The Small Business Act established the Small Business Administration (SBA) to aid small businesses and to ensure they receive a fair proportion of federal contracts.

Congress has established a 23% government-wide goal for awards of contracts to small businesses. Subsets of the small business goal are a 5% government-wide goal for awards to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), a 5% government-wide goal for awards to women-owned small businesses (WOSB), a 3% government-wide goal for awards to historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small businesses, and a 3% government-wide goal for awards to service-disabled-veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB). A contract can get counted towards more than one goal: an award to an SDB in a HUBZone that is owned by a service-disabled woman veteran would be counted towards all the goals.

Each year the SBA negotiates “agency goals” with each department and agency. These agency goals may be higher or lower than the government-wide goals, depending on the types of supplies and services the particular agency acquires.