15 U.S.C. § 656 — Women’s Business Center program

(a) Definitions. “Assistant Administrator^*” means the Assistant Administrator of the Office of Women’s Business Ownership created in subsection (g). “Private nonprofit organization” means an entity described in 26 U.S.C. 501(c) and exempt under 26 U.S.C. 501(a). A “small business concern^* owned and controlled by women,” whether a startup or existing business, is at least 51 percent owned by one or more women and has management and daily operations controlled by one or more women. A “women’s business center site” is the location of one center, or one or more centers established with another center in another in-State or regional location, that serves a distinct otherwise unserved population, targets women, and has a scope, function, and activities similar to the primary center or centers.
(b) Authority. The Administration^* may give private nonprofit organizations financial assistance for 5-year projects benefiting women-owned and controlled small businesses. Projects must provide (1) financial help, including training and counseling on business credit and investment capital, financial statements, cash flow, and other financial operations; (2) management help, including training and counseling on planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling major business activities; and (3) marketing help, including training and counseling on identifying and dividing domestic and international markets, marketing plans, pricing, contracts, negotiations, public relations, and advertising.
(c) Participation. (1) After an application is approved and an award notice issued, a recipient must agree to obtain cash from non-Federal sources equal to 1 dollar for each 2 Federal dollars in years 1 and 2, and 1 dollar for each Federal dollar in years 3 through 5. (2) No more than half of the non-Federal match may be in-kind contributions that are only budget line items, including office equipment and space. (3) Federal assistance may be a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement and may pay in a lump sum or installments, in advance or as reimbursement. The Administration may pay up to 25 percent of the annual Federal share after award notice but before the match is obtained. (4) A recipient that fails to obtain the required match may not receive advance payments for the rest of that project or any other Administration-funded project. Before funding another project, the Administration must specifically decide whether the recipient can obtain the required match and record written reasons.
(d) Contracts. A women’s business center may contract with a Federal department or agency to provide specific help to women and other underserved small business concerns. The contract should not interfere with the center’s grant duties.
(e) Five-year plan. Each first-time applicant must submit a 5-year plan for proposed fundraising and training. A recipient may receive assistance for no more than 5 years per center site.
(f) Selection criteria. The Administration must evaluate and rank applicants using predetermined criteria stated by relative importance, publish those criteria and importance, and include them in each solicitation. The criteria must include the applicant’s experience improving women business owners’ or potential owners’ skills; ability to start promptly; ability to serve a representative number of socially and economically disadvantaged women; and proposed site location.
(g) Office. (1) An Office of Women’s Business Ownership is established within the Administration to run its women’s business enterprise programs. An Assistant Administrator, appointed by the Administrator, runs the Office. (2)(A) The Assistant Administrator position is in the Senior Executive Service and is a noncareer appointment. (B) The Assistant Administrator administers programs helping women entrepreneurs start and run businesses, develop management and technical skills, seek Federal procurement, and obtain capital. Duties include managing the Women’s Business Center program; recommending annual administrative and program budgets and setting appropriate funding levels; reviewing applicant budgets; selecting participants; implementing this section; maintaining an information clearinghouse among centers; serving as vice chair of the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise; serving as liaison to the National Women’s Business Council; and advising the Administrator on Women’s Business Council appointments. (C) In performing these duties, the Assistant Administrator must consult Administration officials in areas served by the centers.
(h) Examination. (1) The Administration must conduct an annual program and financial examination of each center. Each center must provide an itemized breakdown of its prior-year actual costs and documentation of non-Federal matching assistance obtained and spent, including verification of the existence and value of qualifying in-kind contributions. The Administration must analyze each examination and decide whether the center is programmatically and financially viable. (2) When deciding whether to award a sustainability grant under subsection (l) or renew a grant or cooperative agreement, the Administration must consider the latest examination. It may withhold the award or renewal if required examination information or information needed for the subsection (j) report was missing or inadequate.
(i) Contracts. The Administrator may enter contracts only to the extent and in amounts provided in advance by appropriations Acts. After entering a grant or cooperative agreement, the Administrator may not suspend, end, fail to renew, or fail to extend it without written reasons and an opportunity for a hearing, appeal, or other proceeding under title 5, chapter 5.
(j) Report. The Administration must report to the House and Senate Small Business Committees on all projects’ effectiveness. For each center, the report must cover people assisted; startup businesses formed; assisted businesses’ gross receipts; employment increases or decreases; profits to the maximum practicable extent; and the latest examination analysis and resulting viability decision.
(k) Appropriations. (1) Until the pilot program in subsection (l) expires, Congress authorizes $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, $12,800,000 for 2001, $13,700,000 for 2002, and $14,500,000 for 2003. (2) Except for the stated exceptions, funds for fiscal year 1999 and later may be used only for grants, not Administration management or administration. The exceptions are 2 percent in 2000, 1.9 percent in 2001, 1.9 percent in 2002, and 1.6 percent in 2003 for selection panels, post-award conferences, monitoring, and oversight. (3) The Administrator may use expedited acquisition methods, but must give all small-business sources a reasonable chance to submit proposals. (4) Subject to the exception, the following shares are reserved for subsection (l) sustainability grants: 17 percent in 2000, 18.8 percent in 2001, and 30.2 percent in 2002 and 2003. If reserved money is not fully awarded to qualifying private nonprofits, the Administration may use it for additional sites or increased funding under subsection (b).
(l) Repealed. Pub. L. 110–28, title VIII, section 8305(b), May 25, 2007, repealed this subsection.
(m) Continued funding. (1) A nonprofit organization described in paragraph (2) may receive, subject to paragraph (3), a 3-year grant. (2) It must be a nonprofit that received subsection (b) or (l) funding. (3)(A) The Administrator must develop and publish application criteria. (B) Except where this subsection says otherwise, participation conditions are the subsection (l) conditions in effect May 25, 2007. (C) Within 60 days after each fiscal year’s application deadline, the Administrator must approve or deny each application and notify the applicant. (4) Subject to appropriations, the Administrator must grant each approved applicant the Federal share of the activities in its application. The grant may not exceed $150,000 for each grant year, and the Federal share may not exceed 50 percent. In allocating funds, the Administrator must prioritize applications under this subsection or subsection (l) over first-time subsection (b) applications. (5) The Administrator may renew a grant for additional 3-year periods if the organization applies with the required information. There is no limit on renewals.
(n) Privacy. (1) A center may not disclose an assisted individual’s or small business concern’s name, address, or phone number without consent unless (A) a court orders the Administrator to disclose it in a Federal or State agency civil or criminal enforcement action or (B) the Administrator considers disclosure necessary for a center’s financial audit. An audit disclosure must be limited to what the audit needs. (2) This does not limit Administration access to program-activity data or stop the Administration from using other client information for client surveys. (3) The Administrator must issue regulations setting audit-disclosure standards.
(o) Women’s representation study. (1) The Administrator must periodically study industries, as defined by the North American Industry Classification System, to identify those in which women-owned and controlled small businesses are underrepresented. (2) Within 3 years after January 2, 2013, and every 5 years after that, the Administrator must report study results for the preceding 5-year period to the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and the House Small Business Committee.