Self-Certification vs Third-Party WOSB Certification

If you've read older guides telling you to "self-certify" your women-owned small business, that advice is out of date. The rules changed in 2020, and the choice today is between two legitimate certification routes — not whether to certify at all. This guide explains what happened, how the two paths compare, and how to pick one.

Can I still self-certify my business as a WOSB?

No. Self-certification for the WOSB Federal Contract Program ended on October 15, 2020. After that date, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) no longer accepts a self-attestation for set-aside or sole-source awards. A firm that is not formally certified is not eligible to win WOSB Program contracts.

The change implemented a statutory requirement from the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act, finalized in SBA's May 2020 rule. So while the phrase "WOSB self-certification" still circulates online, it no longer describes a valid path to federal set-aside contracts.

What are the two ways to get WOSB certified now?

There are two approved routes, and both satisfy the same legal requirement under 13 CFR Part 127:

• Certify directly with SBA through MySBA Certifications at certify.sba.gov — SBA's free online process.
• Use an SBA-approved Third-Party Certifier (TPC) and then submit that certification as evidence to SBA.

Whichever route you choose, the firm must have an active registration in SAM.gov, and the qualifying woman or women must directly and unconditionally own at least 51% of the business and control its daily operations and long-term decisions.

Path 1 — Certifying directly with SBA

SBA's own process runs through MySBA Certifications (certifications.sba.gov / wosb.certify.sba.gov). The regulation is explicit: "There is no cost to apply to SBA for certification" (13 CFR 127.300). You upload your eligibility documents, SBA reviews them, and your status appears on your SBA Small Business Search profile so contracting officers can verify it.

Path 2 — Using a Third-Party Certifier

SBA recognizes four approved Third-Party Certifiers: the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce (USWCC), the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC), and the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. A TPC certification counts as evidence of WOSB status, but you still upload the TPC certificate and proof of citizenship to MySBA before bidding on set-asides.

Is WBENC certification the same as WOSB certification?

Not exactly — and this trips up a lot of business owners. They are two different credentials for two different markets:

• WOSB (and EDWOSB) is the SBA federal-contracting set-aside credential. It's what you need to compete for federal WOSB Program contracts.
• WBE is WBENC's national credential aimed at corporate/private-sector supplier-diversity programs (Fortune 500 procurement, plus some state and local entities). WBENC calls it the most widely recognized national certification for women-owned businesses.

WBENC is also one of the four SBA-approved third-party WOSB certifiers, and it lets applicants pursue WOSB certification at the same time as the WBE credential in one process. One nuance on renewal: the SBA WOSB certification term is three years, while WBENC's own WBE credential is recertified annually.

What's the difference between WOSB and EDWOSB?

An EDWOSB is a WOSB that also meets an economic-disadvantage test on the owning woman or women, under 13 CFR 127.203. The ownership and control rules are identical; EDWOSB simply adds three financial thresholds (current figures effective December 19, 2022):

• Personal net worth less than $850,000 (excluding the business and primary-residence equity).
• Adjusted gross income averaged over the prior three years that does not exceed $400,000 (above this, SBA presumes she is not disadvantaged — rebuttable).
• Total assets — including primary residence and the business — that do not exceed $6.5 million.

Note: many older or third-party pages still cite the superseded $750,000 / $350,000 / $6 million figures. The numbers above are the current ones. On this directory, 1,831 of the 5,581 listed vendors hold EDWOSB status.

Which certification path should I choose?

• Selling primarily to federal agencies? Either route works, but SBA's free direct path is the most direct way to compete for WOSB set-asides.
• Also selling to large corporations? A third-party route through WBENC is attractive because you can pursue WBE (for corporate supplier-diversity programs) and WOSB together.
• Watching your budget? SBA direct certification has no application cost; a TPC's own proprietary credential may carry a fee.

Whichever you choose, keep your certification current. SBA's three-year cycle includes a program examination, and you must recertify within 90 days of your eligibility period ending. (A temporary one-year recertification extension applied to renewal dates falling between June 2024 and May 2026 — verify its current status before relying on it.)

Where this directory fits

Womyn Owned lists 5,581 SBA-certified WOSB/EDWOSB B2B vendors across all 50 states plus DC and Puerto Rico, sourced from the SBA Small Business Search and USAspending.gov. Of those, 945 show federal contract activity totaling roughly $2.83 billion in obligations. Top states by vendor count include Virginia (520), California (494), and Texas (489). Every listing shows a real, registry-verified certification — never a self-attested badge.