Lately, Economically Disadvantaged WOSB or EDWOSB certification is quite a rage. It is a self-certifying program, which is practically helping women folks to get the financial grants and the resources to do business. To be eligible, the WOSB or EDWOSB entities must either be certified as a small business concern or controlled by one or more women by a Federal agency, a State Government or a national certifying entity approved by the Administrator; this is referred to as a Third Party Certifier. The other option is to self-certify by proving to the contracting officer that the concern is women owned with adequate documentation to support the claim.
Following are the list of agencies approved by the SBA that provides EDWOSB help:
El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
US Women's Chamber of Commerce
National Women Business Owners Corporation
Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
It is to be noted that WBENC does not act as a Third Party Certifier for EDWOSB, but for WOSB only. If the concern wishes to be considered economically disadvantaged as well, then the self-certifying documents to that effect must be included with the WBENC certification.
Using Third Part Certifier Can Reduce the Requirement of Documentation
If you are seeking EDWOSB help from the professionals, get to know how can you reduce the documentation. By using a third party certifier, the concern considerably reduces the amount of documentation that must be submitted into the WOSB Repository. The EDWOSB Certification Program Repository is a web-based document storage environment maintained by the SBA to house documents submitted by the business concerns confirming their eligibility for the WOSB program. The value of the repository is that the contracting officers can access and review documents held in the repository prior to the contract award.
All candidates for seeking EDWOSB help, whether self-certified or Third Party certified, will submit documents into the repository. The specifics vary depending on whether the concern chooses self-certification or Third Party certification, WOSB status or EDWOSB status, and based on the legal structure of the small business concern, i.e. Inc., LLC, partnership, etc.
Register with CCR
To gain access to the repository, you must first register in the CCR so that you can get a user ID and password for SBA's GLS. This is the first and foremost part of the EDWOSB Certification. The CCR is the Central Contractors Registration database. It is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things relating to Federal procurement. One must first build a CCR profile in order to create a General Login System (GLS) account with the SBA. Once you are in the GLS, you can request access to the WOSB repository.
Keep in mind…
The repository documents should be updated anytime there is a change. If you are a corporation, for example, and have By-Laws, those new By-Laws should be added to the repository. Additional documents into the repository may also be requested if there is ever a protest or during an eligibility examination of EDWOSB Certification. You can get details about this program from EDWOSB help. Eligibility examinations are conducted at random, so it is possible to self-certify, and submit an offer for a WOSB or EDWOSB contract, provided your CCR and ORCA registrations are complete.
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