Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program
Case Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain Millions of Dollars in Contracts Gao ID: GAO-10-255T November 19, 2009The Small Business Administration (SBA), which, along with federal procuring activities, administers the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program, reported in fiscal year 2008 that $6.5 billion in federal contracts were awarded to firms who self-certified themselves as SDVOSBs. Government contracts to SDVOSBs accounted for only 1.5 percent of all government contract dollars paid in fiscal year 2008. Since the SDVOSB program began, the government has not met its annual mandated goal of 3 percent. In addition to SBA's statutory authority over administration of the SDVOSB program, several other government agencies have separate authority over issues related to the SDVOSB program. The Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to maintain a database of SDVOSBs and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) so contractor eligibility can be verified on VA SDVOSB and VOSB contracts. In addition, The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), within the Office of Management and Budget, provides overall direction for governmentwide procurement policies, regulations, and procedures and to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the acquisition processes. The Office's primary focus is on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the governmentwide regulation governing agency acquisitions of goods and services, including SDVOSB set-aside and sole-source contract actions.
Fraud and abuse in the SDVOSB program allowed ineligible firms to improperly receive millions of dollars in set-aside and sole-source SDVOSB contracts, potentially denying legitimate service-disabled veterans and their firms the benefits of this program. We identified 10 case-study examples of firms that did not meet SDVOSB program eligibility requirements, which received approximately $100 million in SDVOSB contracts, and over $300 million in additional 8(a), HUBZone, and non-SDVOSB federal government contracts. SBA found four of the firms ineligible for the SDVOSB program through the agency's bid protest process. Nevertheless, because there are no requirements to terminate contracts when firms are found ineligible, several contracting agencies allowed the ineligible firms to continue their work. For example, bid-protest decisions do not always result in the termination of contracts with ineligible firms, even when termination costs would be minimal in cases where contract work had not begun. As some of our case studies show, even when firms are found ineligible to receive a contract, they can still retain it because current regulations do not require that the contracting agency terminate the contract.In addition, we identified six other case-study firms that were not eligible for the SDVOSB program. The misrepresentations case-study firms made included a firm whose owner was not a service-disabled veteran, a serviced-disabled veteran who did not control the firm's day-to-day operations, a service-disabled veteran who was a full-time contract federal employee at MacDill Air Force Base, and firms that served as a "pass-through" for large and sometimes foreign-based corporations. In the case of a pass-through, a firm or joint venture lists a service-disabled veteran as the majority owner, but contrary to program requirements, all work is performed and managed by a non-service-disabled person or a separate firm. Federal regulations set requirements for a small business to qualify as an SDVOSB. Specifically, SDVOSB eligibility regulations mandate that a firm must be a small business and at least 51 percent-owned by one or more service-disabled veterans who control the management and daily business operations of the firm. The lack of effective fraud-prevention controls by SBA and agencies awarding contracts allowed these ineligible firms to receive approximately $100 million of sole-source or set-aside SDVOSB contracts over the last several years. The SDVOSB program is essentially an eligibility-based program. However, neither the SBA, except when responding to a protest, nor contracting officials are currently verifying the eligibility of firms claiming to be SDVOSBs. For example, currently the SBA and contracting agencies do not have a process in place to access the VA service-disabled veteran's database listing individuals that are valid service-disabled veterans. In addition, contracting officers are not required to validate that a firm's owner is a service-disabled veteran prior to award. Unlike other small business contracting programs, such as the HUBZone and 8(a) programs, there also are no documentation submissions to substantiate eligibility for the program or application process associated with the SDVOSB program. This lack of controls substantially increases the risk for fraud and abuse in the SDVOSB program. The only process in place to detect fraud in the SDVOSB program involves a formal bid protest process at the SBA, whereby interested parties to a contract award can protest if they feel a firm misrepresented its small business size or SDVOSB eligibility in its bid submission. However, as shown by our case studies, this self-policing process does not prevent ineligible firms from receiving SDVOSB contracts.
GAO-10-255T, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program: Case Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain Millions of Dollars in Contracts
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Testimony:
Before the Committee on Small Business, House of Representative:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST:
Thursday, November 19, 2009:
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program:
Case Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain
Millions of Dollars in Contracts:
Statement of Gregory D. Kutz, Managing Director:
Forensic Audits and Special Investigations:
GAO-10-255T:
[End of section]
Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Committee:
The Small Business Administration (SBA), which, along with federal
procuring activities, administers the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned
Small Business (SDVOSB) program, reported in fiscal year 2008 that $6.5
billion[Footnote 1] in federal contracts were awarded to firms who self-
certified themselves as SDVOSBs. Government contracts to SDVOSBs
accounted for only 1.5 percent of all government contract dollars paid
in fiscal year 2008. Since the SDVOSB program began, the government has
not met its annual mandated goal of 3 percent.[Footnote 2] In addition
to SBA's statutory authority over administration of the SDVOSB program,
several other government agencies have separate authority over issues
related to the SDVOSB program. The Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and
Information Technology Act[Footnote 3] requires the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) to maintain a database of SDVOSBs and Veteran-
Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) so contractor eligibility can be verified
on VA SDVOSB and VOSB contracts. In addition, The Office of Federal
Procurement Policy (OFPP), within the Office of Management and Budget,
provides overall direction for governmentwide procurement policies,
regulations, and procedures and to promote economy, efficiency, and
effectiveness in the acquisition processes. The Office's primary focus
is on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the governmentwide
regulation governing agency acquisitions of goods and services,
including SDVOSB set-aside and sole-source contract actions.
My statement summarizes our report issued today to your committee.
[Footnote 4] This testimony discusses (1) whether cases of fraud and
abuse exist within the SDVOSB program, and (2) whether the program has
effective fraud-prevention controls in place.
To identify examples of firms that received SDVOSB contracts through
fraudulent or abusive eligibility misrepresentations, we reviewed
SDVOSB contract awards and protests filed with SBA since the program's
inception in 2003. We also reviewed allegations of fraud and abuse sent
to our fraud hotline, FraudNET. In addition, we posted inquiries on our
Web page and on several veteran advocacy-group Web pages and
newsletters seeking information on fraud or abuse of the SDVOSB
program. We received over 100 allegations of fraud and abuse in the
SDVOSB program. From these sources, we selected 10 cases for further
investigation based on a variety of factors, including facts and
evidence provided in protests and allegations, whether a firm received
multiple SDVOSB contracts, and whether a firm received other non-SDVOSB
contracts. To investigate these case studies, we interviewed firm
owners and managers and reviewed relevant documentation, such as
business filings and tax returns, to determine if SDVOSB eligibility
requirements had been met. We also analyzed data from Federal
Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) for years 2003
through 2009[Footnote 5] to identify SDVOSB contracts received by the
firms since the program's inception. Furthermore, we reviewed
certifications made by firms, such as certifications about a firm's
size, SDVOSB status, and line of business, in the federal government's
Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA).[Footnote
6] To determine whether the program has effective fraud-prevention
controls in place, we reviewed relevant laws and regulations governing
the SDVOSB program. We also interviewed agency officials about their
responsibility over the program and controls currently in place to
prevent or detect fraud and abuse. Additional details on our scope and
methodology can be found in our report that we issued today.[Footnote
7]
We conducted our audit work and investigation from October 2008 through
November 2009 in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our objectives. We
performed our investigative work in accordance with the standards
prescribed by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and
Efficiency (CIGIE).
Ineligible Firms Obtain Millions of Dollars in SDVOSB Contracts:
Fraud and abuse in the SDVOSB program allowed ineligible firms to
improperly receive millions of dollars in set-aside and sole-source
SDVOSB contracts, potentially denying legitimate service-disabled
veterans and their firms the benefits of this program. We identified 10
case-study examples of firms that did not meet SDVOSB program
eligibility requirements, which received approximately $100 million in
SDVOSB contracts, and over $300 million in additional 8(a), HUBZone,
and non-SDVOSB federal government contracts. SBA found four of the
firms ineligible for the SDVOSB program through the agency's bid
protest process.[Footnote 8] Nevertheless, because there are no
requirements to terminate contracts when firms are found ineligible,
several contracting agencies allowed the ineligible firms to continue
their work. In addition, we identified six other case-study firms that
were not eligible for the SDVOSB program. The misrepresentations case-
study firms made included a firm whose owner was not a service-disabled
veteran, a serviced-disabled veteran who did not control the firm's day-
to-day operations, a service-disabled veteran who was a full-time
contract federal employee at MacDill Air Force Base, and firms that
served as a "pass-through" for large and sometimes foreign-based
corporations. In the case of a pass-through, a firm or joint venture
lists a service-disabled veteran as the majority owner, but contrary to
program requirements, all work is performed and managed by a non-
service-disabled person or a separate firm.
Federal regulations set requirements for a small business to qualify as
an SDVOSB. Specifically, SDVOSB eligibility regulations mandate that a
firm must be a small business[Footnote 9] and at least 51[Footnote 10]
percent-owned by one or more service-disabled veterans[Footnote 11] who
control the management[Footnote 12] and daily business operations of
the firm. In addition, SDVOSB regulations also place restrictions on
the amount of work that can be subcontracted. Specifically, regulations
require the SDVOSB to incur a mandatory percentage of the cost of the
contract performance that can range from 15 percent to 50 percent,
depending on the type of goods or services. The Federal Acquisition
Regulation (FAR) requires all prospective contractors to update ORCA to
state whether their firm qualifies as an SDVOSB under specific North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. Pursuant to 15
U.S.C. § 657 f(d), firms that knowingly making false statements or
misrepresentations in certifying SDVOSB status are subject to
penalties. Of the 10 cases we identify, all 10 of them represented to
be SDVOSBs in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR).[Footnote 13]
Table 1 provides details on our 10 case-study firms that fraudulently
or abusively misrepresented material facts related to their eligibility
for the SDVOSB program. We have referred all 10 firms to appropriate
agencies for further investigation and consideration for removal from
the program.
Table 1: Case-Study Firm Details:
Case: 1;
Industry business location: Maintenance/repair; North Las Vegas, Nev.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $7.5
million--Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because majority owner is not a service-disabled
veteran;
* Firm's ineligibility was determined by SBA during a bid protest in
June of 2007;
* After the SBA protest, in July of 2007 FEMA sent the firm a letter
providing approximately 30-days to vacate SDVOSB contract awards;
* Company continues to receive tens of millions in non-SDVOSB
contracts;
* SBA determined the firm was ineligible: however, the firm has not
been suspended or debarred from receiving federal contracts.
Case: 2;
Industry business location: Construction and janitorial services Chico,
Calif.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $5
million--VA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Agricultural Research
Service, U.S. Forest Service;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because it does not perform any work and
subcontracts 100 percent of the work to non-SDVOSB firms;
* Our investigation found firm employs three full-time workers and
performs SDVOSB contract work with employees from a large international-
based corporation that reported almost $12 billion in annual revenue in
2008;
* Received over 20 SDVOSB contracts since 2008.
Case: 3;
Industry business location: Construction/maintenance/repair Carnegie,
Pa.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $39.4
million--VA;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because a non-service-disabled veteran manages and
controls the firm's daily operations;
* Firm's ineligibility was determined by SBA during a bid protest;
* Despite being determined ineligible, VA allowed the firm to continue
multiple SDVOSB contracts, because there are no requirements for
agencies to terminate contracts awarded to ineligible firms;
* Non-SDVOSB construction company, located at the same address, manages
and performs the SDVOSB contract work;
* Service-disabled veteran owned and managed a restaurant in another
city over 80 miles away when the contract was awarded;
* SBA determined the firm was ineligible: however, the firm has not
been suspended or debarred from receiving federal contracts.
Case: 4;
Industry business location: Construction/environmental/defense
technology/maintenance San Diego, Calif.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $12.2
million--Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FEMA;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because it is not a small business;
* Our investigation determined that federal agencies have obligated
approximately $171 million for payment to the firm during fiscal years
2003 to 2009 exceeding SBA size standards for average annual receipts;
* Firm is also ineligible because it has formed at least five SDVOSB
joint ventures violating SBA joint-venture rules;
* Firm uses the employees from the large firm in the joint ventures to
perform the SDVOSB contract work.
Case: 5;
Industry business location: Septic tank and related services/
facilities support services/rental and leasing services;
Austin, Tex.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency:
$200,000--Army;
Case details:
* Firm and its SDVOSB joint ventures are ineligible for the program
because a non-SDVOSB firm performs the work;
* Firm and first joint venture were determined ineligible during an SBA
bid protest;
* After the SBA determination, the non-SDVOSB firm used another SDVOSB
joint venture to continue to receive SDVOSB contracts;
* Over $5 million in federal contracts has been obligated to the firm
and its SDVOSB joint ventures since SBA ruled the firm and its first
SDVOSB joint venture ineligible for the program;
* Service-disabled veteran used to qualify for current contracts lives
over 1,800 miles from contract-performance location;
* SBA determined the firm was ineligible: however, the firm has not
been suspended or debarred from receiving federal contracts.
Case: 6;
Industry business location: Construction/maintenance/repair/medical and
surgical equipment;
Burlington, N.J.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $8.1
million--VA;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because the service-disabled veteran owner is a
full-time New Jersey state employee and does not manage the firm's day-
to-day operations;
* Our investigation also found that the firm's 49 percent owner, who is
not a service-disabled veteran, owns five additional non-SDVOSB
construction firms at the same address as the SDVOSB firm receiving
contracts;
* SBA bid protest initially determined the SDVOSB firm was ineligible
because the service-disabled veteran did not own at least 51 percent of
the firm. SBA later reversed its decision when the firm submitted
revised paperwork.
Case: 7;
Industry business location: Construction/roofing;
Boise, Idaho;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $3.9
million--VA, Public Buildings Service, Army;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because a non-service-disabled veteran manages and
controls the firm's daily operations;
* Our investigation found that the service-disabled veteran is an
employee of the firm performing the contract work;
* Joint venture was established as a pass-through for a non-SDVOSB
roofing firm;
* SDVOSB joint venture and non-SDVOSB firm share employees and adjust
payrolls to meet program percentage of work requirements;
* Service-disabled veteran received only 26 percent of the joint
venture's profits.
Case: 8;
Industry business location: Construction/specialty trade contracting;
Leominster, Mass.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $13.8
million--VA, Coast Guard, Army, Public Buildings Service, National Park
Service;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because a non-service-disabled veteran manages and
controls the firm's daily operations;
* During our investigation, firm executives admitted that the service-
disabled veteran is not involved with SDVOSB construction contracts;
* Service-disabled veteran is an IT specialist who currently works from
home on nongovernment contracts;
* All the company construction contracts are managed by the non-service-
disabled partner of the firm;
* The service-disabled veteran does not receive a salary from the
company and received less in IRS 1099 distributions than the 10 percent
minority owner of the firm;
* Ten percent minority owner of the SDVOSB firm is also the president
of another construction company located at the same address as the
SDVOSB firm.
Case: 9;
Industry business location: Construction/maintenance/repair;
Luthersville, Ga.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency: $2.8
million--VA, US Coast Guard, USDA, and Army;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because a non-service-disabled veteran manages and
controls the firm's day-to-day operations and because the SDVOSB firm
is a pass-through for a non-SDVOSB firm;
* Firm was determined ineligible through an SBA bid protest;
* Through interviews and our review of documents submitted by the firm,
we found that the SDVOSB firm only has four employees and the owner of
a non-SDVOSB firm is responsible for day-to-day operations of SDVOSB
contracts;
* The SDVOSB firm submitted 10 joint-venture bids within a 5-month
period, violating federal regulations;
* After being found ineligible by SBA, SDVOSB firm continued to receive
approximately $1.8 million in new SDVOSB contracts;
* SBA determined the firm was ineligible: however, the firm has not
been suspended or debarred from receiving federal contracts.
Case: 10;
Industry business location: Furniture/merchant wholesaler;
Tampa, Fla.;
SDVOSB contracts[A] for years 2003-2009,[B] and awarding agency:
$900,000--Air Force;
Case details:
* Firm is ineligible because it does not perform any work, and
subcontracts 100 percent of the work to non-SDVOSB firms;
* Our investigation found that the firm's service-disabled veteran
owner works full-time as a DOD contract employee at MacDill Air Force
Base--the same location as the contract award;
* SDVOSB firm served as a pass-through to a company where the service-
disabled veteran's wife works, who passed the work to a furniture
manufacturer who designed, delivered, and installed the furniture;
* Manufacturer performed planning, design, and installation of
contracted goods;
* This manufacturer is also on the GSA schedule and could have provided
the contracted goods at a significantly lower price;
* The firm's physical address is the owner's home and its mailing
address is a mail-box rental store;
* Contracting officials at MacDill Air Force Base were aware of the
pass-through structure of the firm and approved the award knowing that
the SDVOSB would not perform the required percentage of work.
Source: GAO analysis of FPDS, ORCA, CCR, contractor data, and
interviews.
[A] Obligation amounts are rounded to the nearest $100,000.
[B] Year 2009 amounts are through July 2009.
[End of table]
SDVOSB Program Does Not Have Governmentwide Fraud-Prevention Controls:
The 10 case studies discussed above show that significant control
weaknesses in the SDVOSB program allow ineligible firms to receive
millions in SDVOSB contracts. The lack of effective fraud-prevention
controls by SBA and agencies awarding contracts allowed these
ineligible firms to receive approximately $100 million of sole-source
or set-aside SDVOSB contracts over the last several years. The SDVOSB
program is essentially an eligibility-based program. However, neither
the SBA, except when responding to a protest, nor contracting officials
are currently verifying the eligibility of firms claiming to be
SDVOSBs. For example, currently the SBA and contracting agencies do not
have a process in place to access the VA service-disabled veteran's
database listing individuals that are valid service-disabled veterans.
In addition, contracting officers are not required to validate that a
firm's owner is a service-disabled veteran prior to award. Unlike other
small business contracting programs, such as the HUBZone and 8(a)
programs, there also are no documentation submissions to substantiate
eligibility for the program or application process associated with the
SDVOSB program. This lack of controls substantially increases the risk
for fraud and abuse in the SDVOSB program.
The only process in place to detect fraud in the SDVOSB program
involves a formal bid protest process at the SBA, whereby interested
parties to a contract award can protest if they feel a firm
misrepresented its small business size or SDVOSB eligibility in its bid
submission. However, as shown by our case studies, this self-policing
process does not prevent ineligible firms from receiving SDVOSB
contracts. For example, bid-protest decisions do not always result in
the termination of contracts with ineligible firms, even when
termination costs would be minimal in cases where contract work had not
begun. As some of our case studies show, even when firms are found
ineligible to receive a contract, they can still retain it because
current regulations do not require that the contracting agency
terminate the contract. In addition, none of the firms found ineligible
by the SBA through SDVOSB-status protests were suspended or debarred
from receiving SDVOSB and other government contracts. When asked about
its bid protest process, SBA officials stated that the bid protest
process focuses on determining the eligibility of a firm for a specific
contract and providing details on why a firm was found to be eligible
or ineligible. SBA officials also stated that bid protest decisions do
not include recommendations for suspension or debarment.
Recently, in response to the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and
Information Technology Act,[Footnote 14] VA has taken steps to develop
a validation program for contracts it awards to SDVOSBs and Veteran-
Owned Small Businesses (VOSB). While not yet fully
implemented,[Footnote 15] this validation program includes steps to
verify a firm's eligibility for the program including validating an
owner's SDV status and his/her control of day-to-day operations. The VA
program also includes plans for site visits to firms seeking VA
certification as an SDVOSB or VOSB. Requiring submission of documents
to demonstrate ownership and control of an SDVOSB has some value as a
deterrent--ownership documents could have prevented instances
demonstrated in our case studies where the service-disabled veteran was
receiving less than 51 percent of the profits. The most effective
preventive controls involve the verification of information, such as
verifying service-disabled status with the VA's database and service-
disabled veteran participation in the business through an unannounced
site visit. Verification of service-disabled veteran status by using
the VA's database could have prevented the most egregious example of
fraud where the owner was not even a service-disabled veteran. Although
VA's proposed system was not intended for governmentwide use, once the
certification system is in place, all SDVOSBs wishing to do business
with VA will have to be certified.
Matter for Congressional Consideration:
Our report documented 10 cases where the governmentwide self-
certification system over the SDVOSB program allowed ineligible firms
to receive millions of dollars in federal contracts. However, through
the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of
2006, Congress required VA to maintain a database of SDVOSBs, determine
whether SDVOSBs are indeed owned and controlled by service-disabled
veterans, and required VA set-aside and sole-source awards be made only
to firms that have had their eligibility verified. Currently, the only
efforts to put fraud prevention controls in place are at VA through
their VetBiz program, which applies only to VA contracts. Given that
outside of VA there is no verification program in place for SDVOSB
contracting, we suggested in our report that Congress should consider
providing VA with the authority and resources necessary to expand its
SDVOSB eligibility verification process to all contractors seeking to
bid on SDVOSB contracts governmentwide.
GAO Recommendations:
To address the concerns identified, we made recommendations in our
report that the Administrator of the Small Business Administration
(SBA) and the Secretary of the Veterans Affairs (VA) coordinate with
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) to explore the
feasibility of: (1) expanding the use of the VA VetBiz "verified"
database governmentwide for purposes of validating all SDVOSB eligible
firms for contracting, and (2) requiring that all contractors who
knowingly misrepresent their status as an SDVOSB be debarred for a
reasonable period of time. In addition, we recommended the
Administrator of SBA refer all SDVOSB firms that submit
misrepresentations of their status to SBA's Office of Inspector General
for review and further investigation.
In response to our recommendations, VA generally agreed with our two
recommendations. In its response VA expressed that specific authority
would be required for other agencies to be able to rely on the
department's VetBiz database and exclude firms from acquisitions if not
"verified" in this database. SBA's response, provided by the Associate
Administrator for Government contracting and Business Development,
generally agreed with our recommendations; however, in its general
observations and specific responses to our recommendations, SBA stated
that they have limited responsibilities over the SDVOSB program and
questioned the efficacy of one of our recommendations. Specifically,
SBA stated that agency contracting officers bear the primary
responsibility for ensuring only eligible SDVOSB firms perform SDVOSB
set aside and sole source contracts. SBA also stated it is only
authorized to perform eligibility reviews in a bid protest situation,
and contracting officers, not SBA, are responsible for taking
appropriate action after a bid protest decision is made. The Associate
Administrator maintained that SBA was under no legal obligation to
create a protest process for the SDVOSB program, and that its only
statutory obligation is to report on other agencies' success in meeting
SDVOSB contracting goals. In addition, SBA expressed that it was not
obligated to institute any type of fraud prevention controls within the
SDVOSB program.
Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Committee, this concludes my
statement. I would be pleased to answer any questions that you or other
Members of the Committee may have at this time.
Contacts and Acknowledgements:
For further information about this testimony, please contact Gregory D.
Kutz at (202) 512-6722 or kutzg@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices
of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last
page of this testimony.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] SBA calculates its SDVOSB total by including all dollars awarded to
SDVOSBs, not just those received through set-aside or sole-source
contracts.
[2] SBA's Small Business Procurement Scorecards report the annual
percentage share of SDVOSB awards.
[3] Veterans Benefits, Heath Care, and Information Technology Act of
2006, Pub. L. No. 109-461, 120 Stat. 3433 (2006).
[4] GAO, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program: Case
Studies Show Fraud and Abuse Allowed Ineligible Firms to Obtain
Millions of Dollars in Contracts, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-108] (Washington, D.C.: November 19,
2009).
[5] The FPDS-NG is the central repository for capturing information on
federal procurement actions. Dollar amounts reported by federal
agencies to FPDS-NG represent the net amount of funds obligated and
deobligated as a result of procurement actions. Because we did not
obtain disbursement data, we were unable to identify the actual amounts
received by firms.
[6] ORCA was established as part of the Business Partner Network, an
element of the Integrated Acquisition Environment, which is implemented
under the auspices of White House Office of Management and Budget,
Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Chief Acquisition
Officers Council. ORCA is the primary government repository for
contractor-submitted representations and certifications required for
the conduct of business with the government.
[7] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-108].
[8] 15 U.S.C. §631 et seq. 13 CFR Parts 125 and 134.
[9] The criteria for a small business are defined in 13 CFR Part 121.
[10] For any publicly-owned business, not less than 51 percent of the
stock must be owned by one or more service-disabled veterans.
[11] The term "veteran" means a person who served in the active
military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released
there from under conditions other than dishonorable. 38 U.S.C. 101(2).
Service-disabled means, with respect to disability that such disability
was incurred or aggravated in line of duty in the active military,
naval, or air service.
[12] In the case of a veteran with permanent and severe disability, the
spouse or permanent caregiver of such veteran may control the business.
[13] Central Contractor Registration (CCR) is the primary contractor
registrant database for the U.S. Federal Government. CCR collects,
validates, stores and disseminates data in support of agency
acquisition missions.
[14] Veterans Benefits, Heath Care, and Information Act of 2006, Pub.
L. No. 109-461, 120 Stat. 3433 (2006).
[15] See GAO, Department of Veterans Affairs Contracting with Veteran-
Owned Small Businesses, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-391R] (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 19,
2009).
[End of section]
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