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GAO-09-391R 1 (2009-03-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanmp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I GA 0 .i B Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 March 19, 2009 The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka Chairman The Honorable Richard Burr Ranking Member Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate The Honorable Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Chairwoman The Honorable John Boozman Ranking Member Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Committee on Veterans' Affairs House of Representatives Subject: Department of Veterans Affairs Contracting with Veteran-Owned Small Businesses The federal government's long-standing policy has been to use its buying power-the billions of dollars it spends through contracting each year-to maximize procurement opportunities for small businesses, including those owned by service-disabled veterans. Under the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to give first and second priority to small businesses owned by service-disabled and other veterans, respectively, when it uses small business preferences to award its contracts, which totaled more than $14 billion in fiscal year 2008.' The act also requires VA to establish contracting goals for service- disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) and other veteran-owned small businesses (VOSB) and gives VA unique authorities to use contracting preferences for SDVOSBs and VOSBs to help it reach those goals. The act requires us to conduct a 3-year study on VA's efforts to meet its SDVOSB and VOSB contracting goals and to brief Congress annually, by January 31, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Accordingly, we briefed your staffs on January 31, 2008, on steps that VA had taken to implement its new contracting authorities and verify the ownership of firms in VA's mandated database of SDVOSBs and VOSBs, as well as potential challenges that VA could face in meeting its contracting goals. The purpose of this report is to make publicly available the contents of the briefing held on January 30, 2009. Enclosure I contains a copy of the briefing slides that we used to brief your staffs on (1) the extent to which VA 'Pub. L. No. 109-461 § 502 (Dec. 22, 2006), 38 U.S.C. § 8127. GAO-09-391R Veterans Affairs Contracting with Veterans Page 1