WASHINGTON, DC/July 19, 2010 -- Today, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce™ released an important report to Congress titled; “Women’s Businesses Struggle for Market Share,” which finds, during a decade of strong growth in the number of women-owned firms, women’s revenue-based market share shrank ten percent.

USWCC Report: The Women-Led Economy
The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce released an groundbreaking report laying the foundation for a transformative new future for women as market leaders through The Women-Led Economy™.

This report challenges the conventional view of women primarily as employees and breadwinners within our families and calls upon women to take the lead by focusing our tremendous purchase power with women-owned firms, building our own economic resources and institutions, and working together as market leaders to advance our objectives.

WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent articles published in many of America’s leading news outlets are laden with big business-funded talking points against financial reform that serve Wall Street’s ruthless exploitation of small businesses and every day Americans.

The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce disagrees with the U.S. Chamber’s big business scare tactics regarding the benefits of a strong, independent Consumer Federal Protection Agency.  The U.S. Chamber would have small businesses believe that protecting the rights of bank and non-bank lenders to deceive, manipulate and bet against small businesses is good for the economy and good for our future – all evidence to the contrary.

April 26 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc.female workers suing the retailer for discrimination won a ruling that said more than 1 million women employees can collectively pursue claims seeking back pay in the biggest gender-bias case in U.S. history.

“Small business owners are major stakeholders in our nation’s bid to reform the ruthless and deceptive practices of Wall Street that have devastated our small businesses, our families and our communities. The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and our over 500,000 members, call upon Congressional leaders to serve the interests of the American people — not the interests of Wall Street lobbyists.

We call upon Congress to enact comprehensive financial reform that will stop shadow banking, stop unscrupulous betting against American families and businesses, stop institutions from becoming so intertwined and large that they are privileged as ‘too big to fail,’ and stop undue influence within our governmental oversight by the very firms we seek to oversee.  We cannot let Wall Street executives kill the reforms that are needed to prevent the next calamity.

Members of Congress — America’s Main Street needs you to act on our behalf today. Pass strong, comprehensive financial reform, including the creation of a truly independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.”  Read entire statement.

- Webinar:  The Women's Federal Procurement Program
- Webinar:  Making the most of USWCC | Community 360
- New:  USWCC | Council of Business & Financial Advisors
- Meeting:  Defense Logistics Agency - Access to Contracts
- Meeting:  US Dept of State 2010 Small Business Procurement Fair
- Meeting:  National Small Business Contracting Summit - South Central (TX) 

1. The SBA certified to the accuracy of its FY 2008 contracting data, although 92 percent of the contracting actions in the sample used by the Inspector General contained one or more inaccurate or incomplete data elements in FPDS.
2. While the SBA had developed a data quality plan for FY 2008, it did not fully implement the plan.
3. Due to the volume of errors identified in FPDS, it appears that contracting personnel did not review FPDS data inputs to ensure they reflected accurate information, as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).
4. While the accuracy of some data elements improved in FY 2009, overall there was a higher rate of error in the FY 2009 data.
5. Approximately 97 percent of the contract actions in their sample contained one or more inaccurate or incomplete data elements, indicating again that SBA contracting personnel were not properly reviewing data entries.
6. SBA's Goaling Report may contain inaccurate information concerning the extent to which the Agency met its small business goals.

Read the full SBA Inspector General report.

These results are not surprising to the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce as we have been reporting serious errors in attribution of contracts and contract dollars to women-owned firms.

Read our report on the inaccuracies in the data (contains information in FY 2006 and FY 2007.

Read our report on the huge opportunity loss for women-owned small business contractors

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce continues to provide strong economic leadership - opening doors to contracts, business marketing and savings, and an innovative new community to foster interaction and growth for our members.

Please review the options below, and act upon the resources and tools that will power your business, career and financial growth.

Margot Dorfman, CEO

  U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce

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Federal Contracting

National Small Business Federal Contracting Week (March 29 - April 1, 2010) is proudly presented by the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Small Business Contractors in Washington, DC.

Each year we connect small businesses to federal agencies and prime contractors to give you a forum for learning about and meeting with federal agencies and prime contractrs to secure federal contracts for your firm.

This year's conference includes agency spotlights featuring the U.S. Dept of Energy, U.S. Navy and Defense Logistics Agency and our much requested "Industry Day" which provides attendees with one-on-one sessions with buyers and connections from a wide assortment of participating federal agencies and prime contractors. .

Additional information and registration details available here.

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Merchant Payment Solutions and Turnkey Online eCommerce Stores

The USWCC is helping our members to bring down your merchant processing costs and increase your marketing and outreach. USWCC | Pay Solutions provides merchant processing fees that help you compete with big companies using Interchange Plus Pricing instead of the costly and non-transparent tiered pricing. And, our USWCC | Small Business and Supplier Members are also eligible to open a turnkey ecommerce store using USWCC | MarketPlace - and be part of the new USWCC | Mall. We're here to help you compete and keep down costs. Let us know how we can help you.

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Elite USWCC | Council of Business & Financial Advisors

Are you a top tier business or financial professional? Learn how you can be part of the USWCC | Economic Force as a member of the USWCC | Council of Business & Financial Advisors. This select professional community provides trusted insights, education and mentoring so as to advance business, financial, and career growth for women. Be one of our select leaders and work with the USWCC to establish you as an economic leader within your community and at USWCC | Community 360.

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Women's Federal Procurement Program

Read about the developments for this federal contracting program for women-owned small businesses.