OT: California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise

User Forum Topic
Submitted by David J on July 13, 2008 - 1:57pm

I thought it possible that someone on here would have experience with California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises. An Army friend of mine and I are considering starting one focusing mainly on IT procurement and services, but we really have no idea how competitive it is out there in terms of getting awarded contracts or subcontracts. Most information that I've found on the web is from government websites, but not from people that have actually started or dealt with one. Any advice, anecdotal or otherwise, is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

‹ OT: Ginger or Mary Ann? OT: LOL Iran's photoshop missile launch. ›
Strong service/career
Submitted by gandalf on July 13, 2008 - 3:08pm.

Strong service/career background helps. So does the disabled veteran business certification. Most importantly, choose your business partners carefully, people you can work with and trust. The big integrators are called "Beltway Bandits" for a reason. Smalls get taken for a ride all the time. Parallels our experience, significant project opportunity with DoD, we walked away from it, problematic requests, excessive litigiousness, writing on the wall. IMHO, there's a problem with prevailing business culture and also organization of the industry.

David: Start with the local
Submitted by Allan from Fallbrook on July 13, 2008 - 3:53pm.

David: Start with the local SBA office. That is the best place to begin, especially when it comes to the various "set aside" designations: 8(a), HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone), DVBE (Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise), etc.

They can also put you in touch with your local state agency responsible for the parallel state programs. California has a state designation for minority, woman owned, disabled vet, etc.

The Federal government is required by law to spend fixed percentages of their contract dollars on various designations, so research is key.

I work with quite a few government contractors in the military and federal markets and gandalf is right: You need to be careful with whom you work. A lot of the large players have figured out how to game the system using these designations to their advantage, so research the markets, the players and the history.

You can also check the state
Submitted by jennyo on July 13, 2008 - 6:04pm.

You can also check the state Department of General Services website, under Procurement Division.

http://www.pd.dgs.ca.gov/smbus/default.htm

Can't speak for the federal government program, but the state program is fairly active, the Governor has set high targets for state agencies to use DVBE and small business contracts. California no longer has the minority/women-owned designation post Prop 209. Small/microbusinesses and DVBE are the only "special" ones that the state recognizes. In some cases, DGS has a single contract with one service provider that all state agencies must use; the only exception is if the agency uses a small biz or DVBE.

You may want to go to few
Submitted by Raybyrnes on July 13, 2008 - 6:36pm.

You may want to go to few events sponsored by the NDIA and ask some of the members what is involved. Right now there are already a few people in that sector. http://www.ndia.org/