HR 1694 could pave the way for veteran-owned small businesses to land more government contracts.
A congressional resolution that would potentially pave the way for veteran-owned small businesses to land more government contracts has earned a hearty thumbs-up from the American Legion.
The Fairness to Veterans for Infrastructure Investment Act of 2015 (HR 1694) cleared the House on Nov. 17 without amendment and is now in the hands of the Senate. If approved, the measure would amend the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) to include veterans in the Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program.
The DBE program requires 10% of awarded contracts for federal aid highway, public transportation and highway safety research and development go to small businesses that are owned and controlled by those considered economically or socially disadvantaged. The revision would include veteran-owned small businesses in that 10% pool.
In its endorsement of the measure, the American Legion said the act would impact about 1 million veterans. The Small Business Administration estimates veterans own more than 380,000 construction firms, 64,000 manufacturing companies and 414,000 professional, scientific and technical services. Many of these firms would become eligible for placement in the required 10%.
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“Veterans should not be placed at a disadvantage in competing with other government procurement programs,” James Oxford, chair of the Legion’s Veterans Employment and Education Commission, said in a statement endorsing the resolution.
The act wouldn’t necessarily guarantee more veterans would win government contracts for transportation-related projects, but it would give them more opportunities to compete. The American Legion estimates that only half the states in the country meet their DBE goals when awarding contracts. By adding veteran-owned firms, the pool of eligible firms to meet the goal increases.
Oxford calls the bill a “common sense way to update legislation that redresses the exclusion of veteran small businesses at no cost to the taxpayer.”
The measure has been referred to the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. How soon it might go before the full Senate remains unclear. The American Legion is hopeful, however, the Senate and White House will “level the playing field for these veterans.”
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