Legal Meets Practical

Thanks to its brand new Pre-Decision Process, the Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE) will be able to claim a near-100% VetBiz verification rate.

I chose the word “claim” deliberately. The 100% verification rate isn’t real. It’s the equivalent of an attorney winning her first court case and boasting to prospective clients that she has won 100% of her court cases. (We attorneys can get in huge trouble for that, by the way). That isn’t necessarily what the CVE will do, but it is important it frames its new verification rates in a way that isn’t misleading.

Here’s how the VetBiz Pre-Decision Process works. When the CVE evaluates a VetBiz application and determines a business is not eligible for the VetBiz Program, it sends the business owner an email notification. This email notification informs the business owner of the evaluation “findings” which prohibit the applicant’s inclusion in the Vetbiz Vendor Information Pages (VIP). It provides two choices: accept a denial letter, or notify the CVE of the intent to withdraw the applicant company from the process within 48 hours. If the applicant chooses the latter option, the business owner can later go in his VetBiz portal and edit any documents found problematic in the findings and resubmit.

Unless the email goes to a spam box, or the veteran business owner is asleep at the wheel, the applicant will withdraw. This is because there is absolutely no incentive for choosing the option of a denial letter. Accordingly, what would otherwise be a denial will not be counted in the VetBiz statistics reporting the percentage of denied applications.

Interestingly enough, information about the Pre-Decision process is not yet included on the VetBiz website. (I am aware of the process due to my status as a VetBiz verification counselor and from speaking to veteran business owners who have recently run the VetBiz gauntlet). I’m curious to see what information the CVE will provide in the near future – namely, when the process was implemented and how withdrawals will be counted in verification rates.

According to the Average Verification Processing Time table on the VetBiz website, the denial rate is a mere 7%. Just a month ago, it was listed at 30%. Given this drastic change, it appears that this reflects the implementation of the Pre-Decision process. The result is a dramatic skewing of verification rates. Any veteran business owner considering verification will look at the table and think the process is a cakewalk, which isn’t true.

I’m not trying to get down on the CVE here. All veteran business owners who would otherwise receive a denial letter benefit from the new Pre-Decision Process. If an applicant company corrects the issues with its application in an expedient manner and resubmits its application, verification will likely take a much shorter period of time than if the applicant filed a request for reconsideration. At the same time, however, when veteran business owners apply to VetBiz, they should know what they’re getting into it. A claimed 7% denial rate doesn’t do that.

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Desperate times call for desperate measures. With the backlog still looming near eight hundred thousand claims, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently announced a cash incentive program offered to veterans who submit “easier” claims.

Under this incentive program, veterans who file an original Fully Developed Claim (FDC) for service-connected disability compensation may be entitled to receive up to one year of retroactive disability benefits. However, in the news release posted by the VA, it is unclear when these benefits start.

As most veterans in the disability claims process know, the effective date of a claim is generally the first of the month after the month in which a claim is filed. Accordingly, if a veteran submits a claim through the FDC Program, is the effective date one year prior to the filing of the claim? Or is it one year prior to when the claim is granted? Veterans want to know the answer!

At any rate, veterans are well-served by filing their claims through the FDC Program. Doing so generally results in receiving a rating decision in approximately half the amount of time, as FDC Program claims are afforded priority.

Veterans are cautioned, however, to make sure they submit all evidence they want the VA to consider. One of the only benefits of the crippled-turtle-slow standards claim process is that during a pending claim, a veteran may end up submitting a piece of evidence that positively impacts the claim. A fast track process provides a smaller window of opportunity for this to happen.

For veterans who are interested in submitting an initial claim through the FDC Program, the VA’s FDC Program webpage may be accessed here. As a note, claims must meet all criteria of the FDC program, which requires veterans to provide all supporting documentation in their possession when submitting their claim. This includes any records from private medical providers, as well as contact information of any federal facilities that have provided treatment. If a claim does not meet the criteria of the FDC Program, it will be kicked back to the standard claims line…and therefore subject to a much longer wait time and ineligible for the one-year retroactive benefit. (Read my blog on the subject here).

For years, the VA has been blasted for its long delays and horrendous backlog. This is an answer. It may not be an answer for those veterans waiting on appeals, but at least this is something.

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First off, Eric Shinseki looks bigger in person.

Just kidding. (He is rather tall, however – or maybe that was the big screen on which his image was projected during the plenary luncheon).

From August 6th through the 8th, I attended the National Veterans Small Business Conference in St. Louis. As a first-time attendee, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Because I’m sure there are others out there considering whether to attend next year’s conference, I wanted to blog on my experience. Maybe this can help them decide whether the trip is worth the investment.

In my perspective, the conference was entirely worthwhile. I found the breakout training sessions very informative. Many sessions take place concurrently, so I had the choice of six or seven sessions. For veteran business owners, many networking opportunities were offered – both at the social functions that took place and at the networking roundtable with procurement officials. (A professional associate of mine, however, told me there were some issues with the organization of these – he registered for a roundtable and was the only one to show up).

Also, of course, we were fed – three lunches and two breakfasts. This was included with my $270 fee.

In general, the conference was well-run with few organizational mishaps. In terms of criticism, I will say it would have been nice to have received my schedule of training sessions earlier than the first day of the conference. Also, rather than having almost a dozen networking roundtables with procurement officials, veterans would have been well-served by having several sessions of speed networking. After all, many of them were there for purposes of finding teaming partners. Last, the organizers should have required attendees to RSVP for the two plenary luncheons, as I saw a lot of food go to waste.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the conference’s experimentation with VetGovPartner. There were two main parts to this. First, conference-goers were given a “poken,” which looked like a flash drive with a handprint on it. By holding the poken over the sign outside the door of a training session, the materials would later be made electronically available. Also, by touching one’s poken with another’s, contact information was electronically exchanged. Second, attendees were able to “build their agenda” by picking and choosing events from an online schedule. In the morning of each day, they received an email containing the details of their agenda.

The elements of VetGovPartner were relatively easy to operate; I just found them unnecessary. I have no trouble figuring out my own schedule without electronic assistance, thank you very much; and I prefer old-fashioned business cards. To each his own – I’m sure others thought the poken and the agenda builder were convenient.

Small hiccups aside, I very much look forward to next year’s conference. With the slashing of government spending (particularly on conferences), I hope to have the opportunity!

On August 1, House Small Business Committee Member Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) introduced the Improving Opportunities for Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Act of 2013. The main thrust of the bill is a show-stopper: it requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to relinquish control over the verification of SDVOSBs to the Small Business Administration (SBA).

As veterans know, the SBA and the VA operate separate procurement programs for SDVOSBs. These two programs are different in many respects, including the following:

• Verification/Certification Procedures – Under the SBA’s program, veteran business owners self-certify their eligibility to participate in SDVOSB set-asides issued by all procuring agencies other than the VA. Under the VA’s Veterans First Contracting Program, the Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE) verifies applicants as eligible SDVOSBs or veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) in its VetBiz Vendor Information Pages (VIP). This requires veteran business owners to provide information and documentation to CVE which demonstrates the business meets the veteran ownership and control requirements. After these businesses are “verified,” they may compete for SDVOSB and VOSB set-asides under the Veterans First Contracting Program.

• Statutory Definitions – While the VA’s Veteran-Owned Small Business Verification Guidelines (set forth at 38 CFR Part 74) strive to align with the regulations governing the SBA’s SDVOSB program, differences still exist. For example, the transfer restriction provisions in the VA’s guidelines are less restrictive than those set forth in the regulations governing the SBA’s SDVOSB program. This means that while a business may be eligible for the VA’s Veterans First Program, it may not be eligible for the SBA’s SDVOSB Program. In fact, it took a long, drawn-out (and expensive) Court of Federal Claims case to decide this issue. (Read more about this case here).

• Appellate Procedures – Eligibility issues and protests relating to the SBA’s SDVOSB Program are heard by the SBA, while eligibility issues and protests relating to the Veterans First Program are heard by the VA.

Since the inception of the VA’s VetBiz VIP Verification Program, it has encountered harsh criticism due to its extremely high applicant rejection rate (currently 30%, which represents a vast improvement), long wait times, and technical glitches. Despite this, both the VA and the SBA have stated the intention that the VA’s verification program ultimately be applied government-wide. Further, the VA recently sought comments for proposed rulemaking to amend 38 CFR Part 74 and to improve the VetBiz VIP process generally. With these developments, along with the time and money invested in the development and improvement of the VA’s VetBiz VIP Verification Program, it would seem the chance of this bill becoming law is nonexistent.

So why introduce it? To make a point. To suggest that the SBA should take over verification from the VA is a statement that drastic change is necessary. Representative Coffman’s bill is already getting a lot of buzz, and the fact that people are reading it means they are reading the content that discusses what Coffman believes should be changed about the verification procedures generally.

Representative Coffman’s bill can be accessed here.

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