The purpose of the 8(a) program run by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) is to help small companies owned and operated by socially and economically disadvantaged persons to develop their businesses. Companies that qualify under 8(a) have the advantage of certain preferences in government contracting. Under federal regulations for the program, businesses owned by...
Tag: Minority and Women Inclusion
Gift From Top Businesswoman to Help GWU Promote Board Diversity
By Pamela J. Bethel According to a recent blog item in the Washington Business Journal, successful businesswoman Linda Rabbitt has made a substantial financial gift to the George Washington University School of Business to establish an executive education program designed to increase the number of women on corporate boards. This is a stubborn problem. According...
CFPB Makes Excellent Hire for Director of Minority and Women Inclusion
By Pamela J. Bethel We have already written about Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires that financial regulatory agencies set up Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. The purpose of these offices is both to encourage diversity of employment within the agencies themselves and to promote diversity in hiring and contracting within the...
Financial Agencies’ Quest for Inclusiveness Still Has Long Way to Go
We have previously written about Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank legislation, at the time a little-noticed portion of the broad financial reform bill that requires the financial regulatory agencies to set up Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI offices). Now, due to our efforts and the efforts of many others, Section 342 is becoming...
Bethel Set to Speak on Diversity in Financial Services Industry
Firm Partner Pamela J. Bethel is scheduled to participate in a program in late January 2012 in New York City sponsored by the Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project. The project, headed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is an outgrowth of a social justice movement intended to secure equal opportunity and protection under the law for...
New Rule Makes Matters Thorny for HUBZone Contractors
As a result of a new Labor Department rule, HUBZone contractors will need to brace themselves for possible new changes to their hiring practices that may prove difficult and cumbersome. Since 1998, Congress has provided for preferential treatment to HUBZone contractors — those firms servicing Historically Underutilized Business Zones — in competitions for federal government...
Executive Order Aims at Opening Doors to All in Federal Work
While we wait for Congress and the private sector to sort out a solution to our struggling economy and spark much needed job growth, President Obama took a promising step last month in signing Executive Order #13583. The purpose of the order is to promote the equal opportunity and inclusion of qualified minorities by America’s...
After Delay, SEC Gets Closer to Picking Director of Minority and Women Inclusion
The Securities and Exchange Commission is finally catching up on its minority and women contracting responsibilities. On April 30, 2011, SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar said in a speech, correctly, that “Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires that the SEC undertake significant efforts to recruit and promote employees from all backgrounds. In particular, Section...
New Verification Rules for VA Set-Aside Program Pose Potential Issues
Jill Aitoro of the Washington Business Journal has just reported on August 19, 2011, that the Veterans Administration is requiring all small businesses that wish to participate in VA contracts set aside for veterans to fill out a fairly lengthy verification form showing that they are in fact owned and controlled by veterans, service-disabled veterans...
Wanted: Diverse Subcontractors for Fannie, Freddie and the Fed
Attention all providers of real estate, financial, marketing, IT, professional and travel services: If your business qualifies as a “diverse supplier” under one of the programs specific to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks, the prime contractors doing business with those entities will probably want to know about it. In late...