The VA CVE appears to have survived a Congressional effort to strip the CVE of its verification function.
In May, the House of Representatives included a provision in the 2015 NDAA that would have required the CVE to transfer SDVOSB verification to the SBA. But after negotiations with the Senate, the House passed a new version of the 2015 NDAA last week–and the new version omits the verification transfer provision.
SDVOSBs—and basic fairness and common sense—were big winners in a recent decision issued by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
In its decision, the Court held that the VA’s Center for Verification and Evaluation violated the law when it disqualified a SDVOSB, without giving the SDVOSB the opportunity to contest the reasons for the disqualification. In an opinion reminiscent of last year’s landmark Miles Construction case, the Court then held that the CVE’s substantive reasons for the disqualification were arbitrary and unreasonable.
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The Department of Defense met the 23% small business goal in Fiscal Year 2014, and also exceeded the 3% SDVOSB goal.
Although the SBA’s 2014 Procurement Scorecard will not be released until sometime next summer, a recent DoD press release announced the DoD’s small business successes for 2014.
A procuring agency reasonably required all members of a SDVOSB set-aside GSA Contractor Team Arrangement to possess a certain Federal Supply Schedule contract and Special Item Number.
In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that restricting CTAs to holders of a certain Schedule and SIN was appropriate because all of the supplies to be procured fell within the identified Schedule and SIN.
The co-owner of a Missouri construction company faces the likelihood of 51 months in jail after pleading guilty to SDVOSB fraud charges.
According to a Department of Justice Press release, Michael Parker admitted that he and his father, Warren Parker, falsely claimed that Warren was a service-disabled veteran in order to receive more than $7 million in SDVOSB contracts.
A service-disabled veteran-owned small business was awarded its attorneys’ fees for successfully appealing the SBA’s decision that the company was not an eligible SDVOSB.
In what seems to be the first decision of its kind, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held that the prevailing party in a SDVOSB appeal may be entitled to recover attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
In a crushing blow to SDVOSBs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied the appeal of a lower court decision allowing the VA to procure goods and services using the Federal Supply Schedule without first considering whether SDVOSBs can satisfy the requirement.
Rejecting well-stated objections by a dissenting judge, a two-judge majority held that the purpose of the “Veterans First” rule is to ensure that the VA meets its SDVOSB goals, and that so long as the VA meets its SDVOSB goals, it is free to procure services and supplies from the Federal Supply Schedule without first considering a SDVOSB procurement.