Recently, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Veterans Administration must continue to follow the ‘Rule of Two’ when awarding contracts to Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs). Journalist Robert Barnes of the Washington Post provides the details of the decision and how it affects Veteran-owned small businesses doing business with the VA:
By Robert Barnes June 16 of the Washington Post
Being a member of the Veteran Owned Business Roundtable has many benefits and advantages. Networking opportunities, training courses, legislative advocacy, the list is long. But, one of the most important benefits is the opportunity to compete for, and secure business contracts with global organizations that are partners and supporters of the organization. One of our members, Tony Tarkowski, expressed the opportunity he received with Ford Motor Company as a result of his membership in the VOBRT. Read his testimony to get a better understanding of how being a member of the Roundtable can help your business as well.
The Veteran Owned Business Roundtable was established by veteran business owners for their comrades to advocate for their interests. Those interests include access to business opportunity, protection from counterfeit parties representing themselves as veteran business owners and to encourage honorable business practices by veteran entrepreneurs pursuing these interests. The small band of brothers who several years ago resurrected the Roundtable from dormancy realized that opportunity for veteran business owners was great with some federal government agencies but greater still with our nation’s private sector and the corporations whose prosperous commerce had been made possible by the vigilance of the men and women who stood in harm’s way to defend it.
Much criticism is leveled at our country today by those who see the glass half empty; but those of us who have served hold a higher regard for the principles upon which our nation was founded. We see the promise of our nation as one of freedom to pursue opportunity as far as our individual energy, genius and enlightened self-interest will carry us. That enlightened self-interest is mindful of the rights and obligations of full citizenship in the United States, guided by the virtues of honesty and industry. Veterans do not seek a handout. We seek only a chance equal to those who were building enterprises during that period when the veteran put his or her interests on hold to serve our country. The veteran’s claim to a position in the marketplace is a moral one and reflects an obligation incumbent upon our country to make room for the returning veteran as he or she returns to the private sector to serve his or her country as an entrepreneur.
The Veteran Owned Business Roundtable is manned and managed by an all-volunteer group of veteran business owners who selflessly dedicate themselves to the cause of ‘serving those who have served.’ None of those who work as officers, directors or committee chairs and members are paid for their service to that cause. They are the superior men and women who answer the call to serve their fellow veterans in the private sector as faithfully as they served our country in the military. We welcome any and all veteran entrepreneurs, large and small, to join us in this noble cause and while we expect that real opportunity will be available to those who commit to our efforts the greater reward will be in a membership in that group of Americans who know the value of service to others.
If you are a honorably discharged Veteran and you own a business, we invite you to join the Veteran Owned Business Roundtable.
The VOBRT supports the Vets First Verification Program. The program offers Verified firms owned and controlled by Veterans and Service-disabled Veterans the opportunity to compete for set asides by the Veteran Administration and other government agencies.
