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DESPITE LAW, DISABLED VETERANS MISS OUT ON
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS -- "There are no
repercussions
for not following the law. It's like, 'So
what.'"
Story here...
http://www.kansascity
.com/105/story/172453.html
Story below:
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Despite law, disabled veterans miss out on
government contracts
By DAVID GOLDSTEIN
The Star’s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON | From the Pentagon to the Treasury, Washington has
shortchanged disabled veterans by failing to award enough government
contracts to their businesses.
Congress offered a boost in 1999 by passing a law urging every federal
agency to award 3 percent of all contracts to firms owned by retired
military personnel disabled by active-duty wounds or injuries.
Eight years later, however, only the Federal Emergency Management Agency
has met the target — and exceeded it — according to a report from the
Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
On the other hand, the Department of Defense, which accounts for more
than half of all the federal contracts issued, is one of the worst
offenders.
Just half of 1 percent of its nearly $220 billion in 2005 contracts went
to service-disabled veterans’ concerns, records show.
“What is so hard about doing business with men and women who have
sacrificed so much for our country?” asked Sen. John Kerry, small
business chairman and a Democrat, at a hearing this year.
The veterans’ community and its supporters said that for all of its good
intentions, the 3 percent law has no teeth. Still, they’re trying to
push the bureaucracy to honor it.
“There are no repercussions for not following the law,” said Ted Daywalt,
president of Vetjobs, an Internet job board for veterans. “It’s like,
‘So what?’ ”
Throughout the government, less than 1 percent of all federal contracts
have gone to these firms, according to the Senate report, which was
issued in March, but received little attention.
“Certainly we need to meet the goal,” said Calvin Jenkins, a contracting
official with the U.S. Small Business Administration, which oversees
government procurement.
He noted the government issued slightly more than half a billion dollars
in 2001 contracts to disabled veteran-run businesses. In 2005, that rose
to nearly $2 billion.
Veterans of all stripes own about 3 million small businesses, according
to the Senate report. Jenkins said federal contracting officials contend
that part of their problem is finding firms with the skills needed.
But Bob Hesser, a service-disabled veteran who owns a technology
consulting firm in Virginia, said disabled veteran-run businesses do
everything “from making bags to working on missiles. Every field you can
think of.”
Joseph Forney said the problem stems from officials who see the act as
discretionary. “They have the latitude to either use disabled vets or
not.”
The Naval veteran who runs a wholesale electrical supply company in
California, worked to get the 1999 law passed. Forney, who lost part of
his right arm in a military training accident, was an SBA Veteran
Advocate of the Year in 2002.
His company has worked for the California state prison system, the Los
Angeles school district, AT&T and others. But Forney and others told of
being asked to bid on federal contracts, then were never contacted or
were told that the job had been canceled. They also said that disabled
veteran-run businesses sometimes get added as subcontractors to larger
jobs because of their disabled status, but then are never given any
work.
“The law is not working out the way we wanted it to work,” said former
Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri, who, as a Republican member of the House in
1999, wrote the law. “A lot of it is just inertia. The contracting
people, unless they get leadership and constant pressure from the top,
are going to take the path of least resistance.”
“We’re concerned about it,” said Anthony Martoccia, who recently became
director of the small business program at the Defense Department.
“We are making it a priority. We owe the veterans the opportunity when
they get back, if they are entrepreneurs, to compete.”
Even worse than Defense in terms of meeting the 3 percent goal were the
departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland
Security and Treasury.
The Departments of Veterans Affairs and State fared better than most,
though neither met the goal. Each spent more than 2 percent of
contracting funds on businesses owned by disabled veterans.
Lawmakers waded back into the law in 2003 to make the task of awarding
contracts easier.
Congress tweaked the law to allow federal procurement officers to issue
sole-source contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned businesses in
cases where the competition was limited.
Then in 2004, with the Iraq war starting to exact a painful toll on the
troops, President Bush issued an executive order underscoring the
importance of helping disabled veterans. He ordered federal agencies to
step up their contracting, designate a top official to oversee the
effort and report their progress annually to the SBA.
But little changed, veterans and their supporters said.
“You’d think that after two laws and a presidential executive order, I’d
be turning work down,” Forney said.
To reach David Goldstein, call 202-383-6105 or
send e-mail to
dgoldstein@mcclatchydc.com.
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Larry Scott --
