Service-Disabled Veteran Small Business
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The United States Government sets aside contract benefits for companies considered as 'Service-Disabled Veteran Small Business (SDVSB.)
The most notable of these contracts is the Veterans Technology Services (VETS) Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). VETS-GWAC is the result of Executive Order 13360 that is designed to strengthen federal contracting opportunities for SDVO firms. The current VETS contract is for the period from 2 February 2007 through 1 February 2012 with a five-year option. This program has a ceiling of $5 billion. While this money is set aside by the Office of Federal Procurement it is up to the government agencies to provide the contracts, mainly the United States Department of Defense (DoD.)
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[edit] Criteria
A business hoping to be considered "Service-Disabled Veteran" must be at least 51% owned by an individual who can be considered by the government as a Service-Disabled Veteran. The terms "veteran" and "service-disabled veteran" are defined in 38 U.S.C 101(2) and (16). The following definitions are as stated in that code.
Veteran- The term "veteran" means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.
Service Disabled- with respect to disability, that such disability was incurred or aggravated in line of duty in the active military, naval, or air service. An injury or disease incurred during military service will be deemed to have been incurred in the line of duty unless the disability was caused by the veteran’s own misconduct or abuse of alcohol or drugs, or was incurred while absent without permission or while confined by military or civilian authorities for serious crimes.
Such disability does not require a minimum rating to be considered. A veteran with a 0 to 100% disability rating is eligible to self-represent as a Service-Disabled Veteran for Federal contracting purposes.
[edit] Background
For a veteran who suffers service-connected disability, the US Government has deemed it its moral obligation to provide the disabled veteran a range of benefits designed to ease the economic and other losses and disadvantages incurred as a consequence of serving his or her country. These benefits include Government assistance for entering the Federal procurement marketplace. To achieve that objective, agencies shall more effectively implement section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)), which provides that the President must establish a goal of not less than 3 percent for participation by service-disabled veteran businesses in Federal contracting, and section 36 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 657f), which gives agency contracting officers the authority to reserve certain procurements for service-disabled veteran businesses.
[edit] Lack of compliance
Because the office setting aside these contracts has no ability to award Service-Disabled Veteran Small Business contracts, the request percentage of such contracts is significantly lower than it should be. A number of memos and orders have been issued to correct this trend.
President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13360 on October 20, 2004. The Executive Order was issued to strengthen opportunities in Federal contracting for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concerns.
The Administrator of Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued a memo about VETS GWAC, dated July 10, 2007, for chief acquisition officers and senior procurement executives. The memo strongly calls for agency participation in the use of VETS GWAC as a way of meeting the top priority of increasing opportunities for small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.
[edit] Top businesses
DiversityBusiness.com ranked the top 100 businesses in this classification. The top five are the following:
- American Product Distributors, Inc.
- Advanced Resource Technologies, Inc.
- Integrated Transportation
- By Light Professional IT Services
- Leader Communications, Inc.
