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REPUBLICAN
PRESS RELEASE
July 13, 2007
Federal government stumbles on federal procurement and three percent
set-aside for veterans
For more information, contact: Jeff Phillips (202) 225-3527
Washington, D.C. — A Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity oversight
hearing today on federal procurement and the three percent set aside
confirmed that the federal government as a whole has done a poor job of
meeting the requirements set forth in PL 106-50 and 108-183, and
Executive Order 13360 in which three percent of all federal contract
dollars are to be set aside for business owned-by service-disabled
veterans.
In fiscal year 2005, the last year for which Small Business
Administration (SBA) has complete data, the federal government spent a
paltry six-tenths of one percent of all procurement with
service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. This about one-fifth of what
the law and the executive order requires. In 2005, only the Committee
for Purchasing from Blind and Other Severely Handicapped, the Defense
Nuclear Safety Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the
National Science Foundation were in compliance.
“While there is no entitlement to a contract for any set-aside group,
for obvious reasons, the federal government plays a special role in
promoting veterans who choose the entrepreneurial path,” said Ranking
Member John Boozman (R-Ark.). “Veterans are unique in that they earned
whatever advantage the federal government provides, unlike all of the
other set-aside categories of small business.”
Boozman reminded witnesses that the jurisdiction of the House Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs is limited to the VA and encouraged them to work
with the other House and Senate committees to improve the performance of
federal agencies under their jurisdiction.
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Larry Scott
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