Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Verifying Authenticity Of Small Businesses

January 7, 2011 - Veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled veterans are given priority when bidding for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contracts. Unfortunately, many companies misrepresent themselves as veteran-owned to gain that advantage.

Under the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010, the VA is required to confirm that any business attempting to use the veterans' preference is actually a veteran-owned business. Those businesses that have their status challenged must supply proper documentation within 90 days to the VA to establish they are indeed veteran-owned.

The slight inconvenience this will cause legitimate veteran-owned businesses is a small price to pay to ensure the contracts will continue to be awarded to the parties they are intended for. The VA works with, and supports, veteran-owned businesses. This verification process is a necessary requirement to ensure non-veterans are not benefitting from the sacrifices veterans made for this country; the VA has a vested concern in protecting veteran-owned businesses.

Only veteran-owned businesses and service-disabled veterans are listed in the VA's vendor information pages database. To be listed in these pages, businesses must submit an application that proves they are owned by a veteran, a service-disabled veteran, or a veteran's surviving spouse.

In the first days of December 2010, the VA mailed verification notices to over 13,000 businesses listed in the information pages database. Those businesses have 90 days to submit their required documentation or risk removal from the database. Once this process is complete, the VA will begin processing new applications from companies wanting to be listed on the database.