Service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses are anxiously waiting on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling expected in October to determine whether the U.S. Department of Veterans Affair is doing its part to help vets get government contracts.
But as SDVOSBs (as I’ll call them from here on out) wait for the high court’s decision in Kingdomware v. U.S. Kingdomware v. U.S., higher-level discussions on the certification process for SDVOSBs have been quiet, despite the community’s continued calls for a change.
Right now, there are two sets of rules governing contract set-aside awards for SDVOSBs among federal agencies.
From one end, there is the Department of Veterans Affairs’ way. Operating under a “veterans first” mandate outlined in the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, the VA subjects all SDVOSBs to an extensive 90-day, multi-step verification process with the Center for Veterans Enterprise to ensure that they are, in fact, an SDVOSB eligible for those contract set-asides.
Then there is nearly every other agency, not including the Federal Aviation Administration, that requires no formal certification. SDVOSBs vying for contracts in all other agencies need only to submit a self-certification of their status along with their bids.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2015/08/supreme-court-case-shines-light-on-veteran-owned.html
