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The Service Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Participation
Program (SDVBE) was created to reward and give credit to disabled
veterans for their service and to promote SDVBE participation in
state contracting. SDVBE promotes competition and offers greater
opportunity for economic growth. It allows Service Disabled Veteran
owned businesses to bid without fear of discrimination for the
disability in questions and also to provide veterans an opportunity
to thrive.
What is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business, or SDVBE? It is a
business in which a majority (51 percent) is owned by one or more
disabled veteran, meaning an individual who has served in the
military and is eligible for veteran status by the U.S. government.
Each state establishes a SDVBE participation goal for its agencies,
and for most states the SDVBE goal is around 3 percent. The SDVBE
participation goal is for the total contract dollars spent annually
by a department. Every state agency is responsible for meeting the
SDVBE participation goal and developing the methods to reach it.
Plus, each state agency must be able to report their compliance with
the SDVBE goal to the supervising agency, and they must show that
they put in a “good faith effort” to meet the goal if they come
short.
What are the five steps that define a “good faith effort” by the
state agencies? First, contact must be made with the department to
identify an SDVBE to bid on the project. Then a contact needs to be
made with other state and federal agencies plus SDVBE organizations
to find SDVBEs that can potentially be of service to the department.
If those efforts fail, then advertising must be placed in trade
papers to find SDVBEs unless the department itself is prohibited
from advertising. Invitations to bid must be offered to potential
SDVBE contractors, and all SDVBEs submitted must be considered
alongside all other bids.
Although the “good faith effort” rules exist, they are not an excuse
for not meeting the SDVBE percentage goal and working with disabled
veteran owned business. There are plenty of SDVBEs that exist and
meet the participation requirements, so there is little reason a
department should not be able to meet that SDVBE goal.
It is important for our government to support our veterans who have
served our country. It is also important to support those who have
been disabled while serving our country, and the SDVBE participation
program does just that. Where disabled veteran owned businesses may
never be considered, the program forces state agencies to give a
certain amount of contracts to disabled veteran owned business
owners. The SDVBE is just one more way our state agencies can offer
thanks, support the economy, and promote competition all at the same
time.
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