DVBEblog.org

Sundt Construction, in partnership with The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, The California DVBE Alliance, State of California Department of General Services, and the City of Los Angeles, is hosting an Educational Open House for DVBE Contractors on Tuesday, November 1, 2011.

The open house will be held at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 700 N. Alameda St, 10th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Download the two flyers for full details and a parking map.

Educational Open House flyer                            Parking Guide 

While it’s all just “pie in the sky” discussion and guessing right now, an article at fusible.com today points out that Google has purchased several new domain names that all point to a veteran’s program of some sort. Whatever they do, it will be more welcome help for vets, especially as things wind down in Iraq and the military there is removed. (Though we will still have a massive presence including several thousand “security” personnel under the State department.)

We hope that this program will give some sort of preference or recognition for disabled veterans and also to those entrepreneurial types that want to start their own businesses.

As reported on www.fraudwhistleblowersblog.com, Lydia Demski, owner of several companies, recently paid an $800,000 fine to resolve False Claims Act allegations. It seems she setup a company, Deerpath International, and falsely identified it as being owned by a service-connected disabled veteran and then won a contract based on the false claim. The work was actually done by another company she owns.

The fraud was discovered because a former employee reported it.

Sadly, it takes a former employee to report these things; the government still does a very poor job of policing themselves and discovering/preventing this type of fraud on its own. It is not found and punished anywhere near often enough.

Orange County parks has something new this year (and presumably will continue in the future).

Currently, a combined pass for both regional parks (Wilderness Park decal) and the beaches costs $80. Seniors 60+ and handicapped can get the pass for $50.

But if you meet the requirements for what OC Parks is calling a “Distinguished Veteran,” you can get the pass for FREE.

Who is a Distinguished Veteran. The web page at OC Parks site says they are one of the following:

• Veterans with a 50% or higher service-connected disability
• Veterans who were held as prisoners of war
• Congressional Medal of Honor recipients

“The Bank of America Foundation is providing a $50,000 grant to support the continued development and expansion of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business.”

This was the lead sentence from an article at hartfordbusiness.com that caught my eye this morning. Further reading showed that the same program is also offered a little closer to home for California disabled veterans at UCLA.

The program is for veterans who the VA has designated as having a “service-connected disability.”

Starting a business is not easy. You can do it on your own and muddle your way through, but this is a great opportunity to really learn all the ins and outs and get established and hopefully successful faster and with less errors the the do-it-yourself way.

For information about the program and how to join, visit the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities page at the UCLA Anderson School of Business site.

We all know Gary Sinise, the actor who played Lt. Dan in the movie “Forrest Gump.” Gary is well known and greatly appreciated for his support of the military. He and his band, the Lt. Dan Band, have toured Iraq and Afghanistan and many other military sites with the USO numerous times.

Gary recently formed the Gary Sinise Foundation which honors our nation’s defenders through programs and projects that serve our military, veterans, first responders and their families, as well as supporting other charities such as the USO, Operation International Children, and Snowball Express.

A movie about the Lt. Dan Band and its travels has been made. You can stream and watch it for only $4 here: http://www.ltdanbandmovie.com/. Out of that, $1 will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation and its great work.

I encourage all to go and watch the movie and help support our military and some other great charities.

The National Veteran-Owned Business Association has launched a “buy veteran” campaign and, as part of this,  set up a new website BuyVeteran.com where people can look for local businesses that are owned by veterans. This comes after a 2009 poll revealing that 95% of Americans trust veterans because of training under a strict code of ethics.

Lorenzo Buford, Chief Executive Manager of Buford Enterprises International and local veteran, says that the site helps encourage Americans give to veterans after they’re home. “It’s like buying back into America in a sense because every veteran has given their blood, sweat,and tears in different wars…This is the perfect situation where America can now give the veterans the respect that they deserve.”

Buford also says he believes that website will help veterans make up for business lost because of the economy. He says that one of the major problems that veterans face is not being educated in finding contracting work with the government and most rely on private sector business for income.

People looking to search Veteran companies or to purchase “Buy Veteran” gear can go to www.buyveteran.com. Consumers can also look for the “Veteran Owned Business” badge on storefronts while out shopping.

If you’re a DVBE with business in or near Fresno, the Governor’s Small Business Conference on November 10, 2010 will be a great opportunity to learn about programs and to make important contacts with federal, state, and local buyers at the matchmaking event.

It’s free to attend.

To learn more, visit the website: http://californiasbdc.org/smallbusinessconference/fresno.

The Veterans Benefits Act of 2010 recently passed by the House and sent to President Obama for signature does help veterans and disabled veterans in several ways, but the change to current law that affects SDVOSBs is largely just simple clarification.

In several web announcements a portion of the bill is said to “Require the Secretary of the VA to verify small business ownership and operate a database of veteran-owned small businesses and service-connected veteran-owned small business in an effort to end contracting with businesses that fraudulently claim to be owned by a veteran.”

The implication is that the fraud and abuse of the SDVOSB contracting set aside that has been well-documented in other reports will be eliminated or controlled. However, this is not true.

For one thing, the database and verification is already in place at the VA but it applies ONLY to VA contracts. For all other federal contracting agencies, the self-certification process still applies. Hence, no real change will happen here.

A close read of the wording of the bill also shows that it is actually just some small changes to requirements that were, as stated, already in place. While it certainly tightens up some the Secretary’s responsibility to verify if a company is truly owned by a veteran and to verify that veteran’s disability rating, those requirements were already there. This just clarifies things better and authorizes the Secretary to “to access such personal information maintained by the Secretary as may be necessary to verify the information contained in the application.”

Additionally, it clarifies the law by stating that if the Secretary receives an application and cannot verify that the person applying is a disabled veteran, they cannot be added to the database (duh).

So mostly this law just refines the VA Secretary’s responsibilities with regard to the list of certified SDVOSBs – for VA contracts ONLY.

As I wrote earlier, HR 4125 will do much more to eliminate the fraud and abuse that occurs with all federal agencies. Write your reps and urge them to support HR 4125 to get it out of committee.

California Department of General Services Procurement Division and SCORE are sponsoring a seminar on How to do Business with California State Government. For disabled veterans in the central valley who have a business or are thinking of starting one, it’s a great opportunity to learn how to register and get set up to do business with the state.

Here’s what will be covered:

1. Registering your business with eProcurement. This allows suppliers to upload bids/proposals in response to application online solicitations. There is NO FEE to register.
2. Becoming a Certified Small Business (SB) or Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE). The Governor’s Executive Order S-02-06 requires state agencies to award 25% of their annual contracting dollars to certified SBs and 3% to DVBEs.
3. Accessing the California State Contractors Register (CSCR) which connects you to government solicitations, providing an easy-to-use, on-line publication.
4. Becoming a California Multiple Award Schedules (CMAS) Contractor. State and local government agencies shop and compare CMAS for the best value, product, and services, and place orders directly with these businesses.
5. Marketing your business to State Agencies. Maximize your State certification by contacting our local government and industry partners that honor the State’s certification. Learn how to accept the State’s CAL-Card Visa and receive payment in two or three days.

To register:

Call: 559-487-5605 or email: William.hori@sba.gov

Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010   Time: 9am to 11am

Location: SCORE, 2719 N Air Fresno Drive, Fresno, CA. 93727