Vet-owned business advocate criticizes VA bill

The House’s attempt to help service-disabled veterans get federal contracts lacks any real influence, a leading veteran business advocate said Aug. 7.

The Improving Veterans’ Opportunities in Education and Business Act (H.R. 6221), passed on Aug. 1, would mandate the Veterans Affairs Department to include provisions in its contracts and agreements with other agencies requiring them to give preference to service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses.

“This is feel-good legislation,” said John Moliere, a service-disabled veteran and president of Standard Communications. The amount of business done through interagency agreements doesn’t add up to much money, he said.

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Services contracts lead in Iraq funding

Contractors providing the government with administrative and management services in Iraq took the major share of federal contract dollars obligated between 2003 and 2007, according to a report released today.

In analyzing federal contract data, the Congressional Budget Office found government agencies obligated 80 percent of the $85 billion in contracts spent in Iraq on services contracts. Specifically, contractors offering administrative and management services received $26 billion, or approximately 30 percent of the money. Most of those dollars went to contracts classified as “logistics support services,” a broad subcategory of services contracts that can include equipment and property maintenance, according to the CBO’s report, “Contractors’ Support of U.S. Operations in Iraq.”

Read the story: FCW.com News - Services contracts lead in Iraq funding

SBA measures economic impact on HUBZones

Small Business Administration officials have developed a new method for measuring the economic impact of small-business contracts on poor areas, SBA’s chief economist said today.

SBA officials want to measure the effect on employment and household incomes of people living in Historically Underutilized Business Zones compared with the amount of federal contract money that goes to HUBZone businesses.

Read the story: FCW.com News - SBA measures economic impact on HUBZones