Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business program broken
Several of you folks sent us link to the Washington Examiner article about the government’s Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program and it’s rampant fraud. The program is designed to give service-disabled veterans and their businesses preference in government contracts, but, as with anything else that has to do with the government, the intentions are easily defrauded. We wrote about Warren Parker back when he was first arrested in 2011, and he’s just the tip of the iceburg;
Only one agency – the Department of Veterans Affairs – is required to verify the claims made in the paperwork when a business owner seeks SDVOSB status. The rest do not even check the applicant’s qualifications unless a protest is filed, typically by an unsuccessful competitor.
“The program is vulnerable to fraud and abuse,” GAO said in an August 2012 report, which echoed three years of the congressional watchdog agency’s prior findings.
“The government-wide program remains particularly vulnerable since it relies on an honor-system-like process whereby firms self-certify their eligibility.
The only way Parker was busted happened when he pissed someone off and they submitted his records to the government.
From Fox News;
The VA has since made changes to that certification process to great effect. “In 2011 when they changed the process for verification, 10,000 firms stopped, just dropped out of the program,” says Rep. Phil; Roe (R-Tn.) “That showed how much fraud there was in the program.”
No other federal agencies have moved away from self-certification.
10,000 folks just thought it wasn’t that important to rock their lies. We’ve seen teh VA’s process fail when they grant disability checks to people like Joseph Cryer and they could only find two people who had defrauded them with claims of being POWS, even though we know that there are thousands and more are exposed every day.
I understand that the VA doesn’t want to screw any vets out of what they earned, but if we can do it from our LA-Z-Boys, certainly they can do it from their offices if they put a little effort into it. Because by letting the criminals slip through, they’re screwing all veterans.
Category: Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department
Most of the victim group programs are frauds, and I’d say that most of them don’t do any real work.
The most expensive house in the DC area (georgetown pike iirc) is owned by a minority woman owned small business owner who basically just orders things for people at a markup.
I have nothing to say because I will open up three cans and none of them will be nice.
Okay, I lied. I get so pissed at this fraud shit that I see red, so much red that I could go postal. How many more years must we deal with this blatant abuse and lack luster bullshit? We’ve got the fucking gov’t making billions because of student loans and yet, they cannot find one thinking person to solve this problem? What the fuck do they do with their goddamn money?
No. Don’t answer that.
The entire small business administration is broken. Putting your company in your wifes name to be a female owned business, larger companies buying a 49% share so they can bid contracts directly, 1/32% claims of ancestry to fall into another category, it goes on and on. If we want to save the government money, cut out the small business that is taking anywhere from 5% and up on what they’re getting large businesses to quote them before they submit the bid to Uncle Sam.
The government contract set-aside programs are broken from both sides. For instance the DoD goal for SDVOSB set-aside is 3% and they barely make 1% each year, meaning the truly disabled vet owned businesses don’t get their fair share. See http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/statistics/goals.htm. One would hope that of all federal agencies DoD would be the most eager to help veterans. Not!
How is the government supposed to help veteran business owners, when they can’t even confirm who their veterans are? Fraud goin’ somewhere to happen.
The VA has access to ALL the records that would confirm whether or not a claim to service connected disability is valid, as they are the originators of the SCD determination.
That they are NOT taking 15 seconds to do a simple computer check of their own records shows they are failing to do so on purpose.
IOW this is fraud, pure and simple. There is no excuse based on ignorance that holds any water.
So when is Monkeyass going to loose his contracts?
@9, you know the wheels of justice turn slowly, but once they get going, they tend to crush everything in their path.
SGT Ted: you might want to read the article. The VA can indeed verify a SCVOSB claim. In fact, they’re apparently the only Federal agency currently doing that today. All others are simply accepting self-certification by the individual making the claim as Gospel.
All agencies should indeed be asking the VA for SCVOSB verification. However, here the dart you’re throwing shouldn’t be aimed at the VA. They’re the only ones doing things “right” today – the VA is verifying SCVOSB claims against their records. But only since 2011, apparently.
Everyone else appears still to be buying whatever claims are made by program applicants.
@8
I’m Betting Monkeyass has some some sort of legitimate claim. His records verify that he was in the Navy and served honorably. His DD214 also lists a stint at Bethesda. Could be he got hurt on duty. I’m thinking he had a stint of limited duty to boot.
Then again Bethesda used to be where they did substance abuse programs.
At any rate Monkey ass is the type to be able to turn a 10% disability for a bum ankle into a golden opportunity. We already know he’s a shit house drunk and a lying scheming cock gobbler.
This is a headliner?
The SBA, GSA, and many other three letter agencies have seminars all the time and actually tell unqualified entities and vendors on how to skirt the system.
This is old news!
Sad old news!
@12.
And do forget he tossed in his “Instant Indian” status.
Maggot.
The Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Investigations Rewards of up to $10,000 may be provided for disclosing criminal or unlawful activity to the VA OIG. Google VA OIG Rewards for details.
There are also provisions under the False Claims Act (qui tam law suits being one example), that allow rewards to be paid.
If I weren’t already making a good living in healthcare fraud investigations, I could make a good living on VA fraud cases alone. Every VFW, Legion and DAV post have a couple posers in the ranks and they all make the same mistakes.
TAH should get $10K a month from the VA as a retainer!
#1 reason it is broken: lack of bridge funds. DoD does not pay on time. I’ve seen the Army take up to 8 months to pay an invoice. Small business owners have to take on a major corporation as a sub-contractor in order to put food on the table. The perk is selling the contract to that corporation for enough to retire on.
#2 reason it is broken: the major donors (LockMart, SAIC, BAE, others) own some very influential congresscritters. A story broke early in the war about LockMart and the others legally able to call one of their divisions a small minority/woman/disabled veteran-owned business to sweep all the contracts.
Just more proof the government is too big for our own good…
turds