Department of Defense is shortchanging Vets

#Middlebury #Veterans

The Inspector General for the Department of Defense (DOD) has discovered that millions of dollars intended for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses didn’t go to eligible veterans. Instead the money went to businesses that didn’t qualify.

The goal is for every department to set aside at least 3% of its contracts for service-disabled veterans who own businesses. Each of those small businesses must be at least 51% owned by a service-disabled veteran who is hands-on with the business, directing daily operations and in control of management. Each business is allowed to subcontract a certain percentage of its work.

The DOD failed. Out of 27 contracts valued at $827.8 million, it gave the money to 16 businesses that didn’t meet the requirements. The DOD expected those contractors to “self-certify” and swear they qualified. Additionally, the DOD did not check compliance at the subcontracting level, handing out $164.7 million to three contractors who didn’t qualify.

The DOD Inspector General report, of course, had recommendations … coordinate this, implement that, etc. The acting director of the Office of Small Business Programs ( OSBP) didn’t comment on the recommendations, said his office was not responsible and pointed to a different department. The DOD fired back, quoting the actual instruction manual, chapter and verse, that stated that the OSBP should oversee all small-business activities.

That left the whole mess unresolved. No recommendations were resolved; no recommendations were closed.

This is not a new problem. In 2012, the DOD Inspector General put out a report on the many millions of dollars handed out to veterans who did not qualify. The Department of Veterans Affairs keeps a registry for just this reason: so departments can verify a veteran’s status. It’s just a matter of looking them up.

The OSBP handed out small-business contracts valued at $10.3 billion in 2018. How much of that went to people who didn’t qualify?

© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.