VA Issues Final Rule Extending VOSB and SDVOSB Re-verification Requirement

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a final rule amending the re-verification requirements of the VA Veteran-Owned Small Business Verification Guidelines. Effective August 22, 2013, the final rule implements the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, which obligated the VA to verify ownership and control of veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses as a condition for participation in the VA VOSB/SDVOSB set-aside program.

Before the issuance of the final rule, the VA was required to re-verify the ownership and control status of VOSB/SDVOSB eligible businesses every year. However, recognizing the administrative burden of the annual re-verification on both the VA as well as the VOSB/SDVOSB, the final rule as extended the re-verification requirement to every two years instead of annually.

In amending the re-verification requirement, the VA specifically found that annual verification was not “necessary to adequately maintain the integrity of the [VOSB/SDVOSB] program” because other measures were in place to ensure that the program would not be compromised. As the VA noted, VOSB/SDVOSBs are required to “inform VA’s Center for Veterans Enterprise of any changes that would adversely affect is eligibility” in the program and the VA maintains the “right to conduct random, unannounced site examinations of participants or to conduct a further examination upon information that a participant is no longer eligible.”

(http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-08-22/pdf/2013-20488.pdf)