The VA and SBA have numerous regulations defining the eligibility requirements for participation in the veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small business programs. To help laypersons better understand these regulatory hurdles the VA publishes Verification Assistance Briefs. These “are resources to assist applicants in obtaining VA Verification for the Veterans First Contracting Program” and understand SBA’s ownership and control criteria. The VA recently updated all of its existing Briefs and added some new ones. Read on for an overview of the 26 Briefs and a more detailed look at some of the more notable ones.
The VA has broken its Briefs into four categories: Eligibility, Ownership, Control, and Small Business Criteria. 17 of these Briefs are updates to ones that were previously several years out-of-date, and the remaining 9 are first-time Briefs. Structurally, the Briefs each (1) address a unique question, (2) provide the regulatory language addressing that question, and (3) paraphrase the regulations in an attempt to make them easier to understand. In some Briefs, such as Good Character Eligibility Requirement, the third component is just a regurgitation of the regulation. While simply paraphrasing regulatory language might not be that helpful, the VA does expand its insights on other Briefs, highlighted below.
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The VA’s 