Despite its VA VetBiz verification, a small business was recently found ineligible for a Navy SDVOSB set-aside, in a decision issued by the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.
The SBA’s decision stands as a warning that SDVOSB verification does not guarantee SDVOSB eligibility–especially when an eligibility protest arises under a non-VA procurement.
The SBA refused to address a vague SDVOSB protest on its merits–even when the protester attempted to introduce new supporting evidence as part of its appeal.
In a recent decision, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals upheld the SBA’s decision to toss out the vague SDVOSB protest. SBA OHA held that in order for a SDVOSB protest to be viable, it must set forth information or evidence supporting the protester’s allegations.
VetBiz verification is only required for VA SDVOSB set-aside solicitations (and FAA SDVOSB set-asides), right? Not in the eyes of one Air Force contracting officer, who apparently inserted a VetBiz verification requirement in a recent SDVOSB set-aside solicitation.
After being excluded from the competition, a contractor challenged the legality of the VetBiz requirement, and asked the SBA to declare it invalid. Unfortunately for the protester, as the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals held, the SBA lacks authority to rule on such a protest.
When I was in fifth grade, I had to go door-to-door selling candy bars to raise money for a class field trip. I worked up the courage to peddle assorted chocolates to most of the neighbors, but avoided houses with those ominous “BEWARE OF DOG” signs. I was selling snacks; I didn’t want to become a snack myself for some large canine.
For service-disabled veteran-owned small business owners, the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals has recently hung up its own ominous sign: “BEWARE OF LOANS,” at least when they come from non-service-disabled minority owners. In SDVOSB Appeal of Rush-Link One Joint Venture, SBA No. VET-228 (2012), the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals found that loan arrangements between a service-disabled veteran and the company’s minority owners abrogated the service-disabled veteran owner’s control over the company.
A service-disabled veteran “controlled” his company within the meaning of the SBA’s service-disabled veteran-owned small business regulations, despite living more than 900 miles from the company’s headquarters, according to a SDVOSB appeal decision of the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals.
In SDVOSB Appeal of Command Languages, Inc., SBA No. VET-149 (2009), the SDVOSB performed contracts around the world, leading SBA OHA to conclude that the service-disabled veteran’s physical location was largely irrelevant to his ability to control his company.
If you want to file a SDVOSB protest with the SBA, put down the cell phone, because you cannot phone it in.
The SBA’s regulations governing size protests permit a protester to “file” its protest by telephone (and follow up by putting the protest in writing). But the same regulations do not apply to protests of a service-disabled veteran-owned small business’s eligibility.
In SDVOSB Appeal of Veterans Construction of South Carolina, LLC, SBA No. VET-164 (2009), the SBA Office of Hearings and Apepals held that the regulation governing SDVOSB eligibility protests “simply does not allow protests by telephone.” SBA OHA upheld the SBA’s dismissal of a SDVOSB protest because the protester had attempted to file by telephone.
When it comes to SDVOSB protests, the rule is simple: put it in writing.
The regulations governing the SBA’s service-disabled veteran-owned small business program are clear: to qualify as an SDVOSB, a business must ensure that a service-disabled veteran serves as its highest officer.
The SBA will examine a SDVOSB’s bylaws to see whether the provision is met. If not, belatedly amending the bylaws won’t save the business’s eligibility for a contract it bid upon before the amendment, as demonstrated by a SDVOSB appeal decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals.