Friday, January 7, 2011

VA Administration to Begin Verifying "Veteran" Status

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced on January 3rd that companies identifying themselves as small businesses or Veteran-owned businesses to gain priority for VA contracts must now provide documentation verifying their status within 90 days of receiving notice from the Agency. An Agency spokesperson stated that this is a necessary step to eliminate misrepresentation by firms trying to receive contracts that should go to service-disabled and other Veteran-owned businesses. Of course they didn't do this on their own. The requirement was part of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010 that the President signed into law last October.

The law requires VA to notify currently listed businesses that within 90 days of receiving notice they must submit certain business documents. The first batch of notices (about 13 thousand) were mailed out mid-December. Those companies have 90 days to prove their bona-fides.

VA's press release didn't say what will happen to those companies that can't prove that they are Veteran-owned businesses. At a minimum, those companies will not be receiving any more contracts from the VA and possible face suspension or debarment actions that will affect their ability to win any Government contracts.

1 comment:

  1. Can you put in a link to the DPAP memorandum

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