On November 27, 2018, the House Committee on Small Business introduced House Resolution 7169, the proposed Verification Alignment and Service-disabled Business Adjustment (VA-SBA) Act.1 The purpose of this new legislation is to facilitate the transfer of responsibility for verifying small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans to the Small Business Administration (SBA). While this proposed legislation will serve to consolidate the separate SBA and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) certification standards, it will also put an end to the current SBA policy of self-certification and will require many small and large businesses to revise policies, procedures, and certification programs.

Currently, the SBA certifies small businesses that participate in most federal contracting preference programs. However, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) are a rare exception. While SDVOSB must go through a burdensome verification process with the VA to qualify for VA contracts, they are uniquely allowed to also self-certify with the SBA to obtain contracts from all other federal government agencies. The VA-SBA Act would require that the SBA implement a certification process for all SDVOSB applications, as it does for small businesses from all other socioeconomic preference programs.

SOURCE – READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/house-small-business-committee-proposes-16283/