National IGE Report: March-April 2023

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, the Veteran Small Business Certification Program, which handles certifications for veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs), is being handled by the Small Business Administration (SBA). This change, several years in the making, simplifies what previously had been a complicated and often inconsistent process where companies self-certified through SBA or completed a more demanding certification process overseen by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The path towards the new certification program was driven, in part, by one of SAME’s longest-running national IGE projects. In 2017, an IGE session hosted by the Charleston Post planned to discuss disparities between how the VA and SBA certified SDVOSBs, and, importantly, the consequences that industry endured as a result. The motivation was that many contracting officials managed the risk associated with the differing certifications by limiting contract opportunities for SDVOSBs, instead offering those as unrestricted.

The Post took the opportunity to bring together SDVOSBs and federal agency contracting officials to share perspectives and help inform a larger discussion. At the four-hour workshop, the panel of government and industry leaders gained tremendous insights and shared their perspective on the issue. The session was recorded, summarized, and shared with VA and SBA.

Not long after, SAME was invited to assist the VA/SBA team in their collaboration on an effort that only very recently before had been dictated by the National Defense Authorization Act to address: come up with a single system for certifying SDVOSBs and veteran-owned businesses. After much work and steadfast efforts by SAME members, which included meeting with Congressional representatives, a new process was developed, that would ultimately be administered by SBA, and began to work through the regulatory system.

Current veteran-owned small businesses verified by the Center for Verification & Evaluation within VA are granted a one-time, one-year extension, and self-certified SDVOSBs have also been granted a one-year grace period until Jan. 1, 2024 to file an application for certification.

Nearly six years after SAME first embraced this issue, and supported it both locally and nationally, the impact is being realized.

Sometimes, results are recognized over the long run. Other times, they are more immediate. SAME has continued to search for new areas where its collaborative platform and ability to deliver multidisciplined solutions can address major challenges facing national security. During the 2023 SAME Capital Week, the inaugural IGE Summit will be held. This collaboration-focused event, “Construction, A Contact Sport,” developed through the SAME Construction Task Force, which was stood up just in fall 2022, aims to address three pressing issues facing national security and the construction sector that are central to improving project delivery and benefitting both client and contractor: the state of America’s industrial base; the status of risk-sharing on projects; and the consequences of accepting the status quo.

A total of three breakout sessions are planned. They will be facilitated, respectively, by three members with extensive experience throughout federal construction: Mario Burgos with Burgos Group, Ben Nichols with Harkins Builders, and Rear Adm. John Korka, F.SAME, USN (Ret.), former NAVFAC Commander and now with Clark Construction.

• The Shrinking Federal Contractor Base. How can we reverse the trend and commit to the necessary investments and changes in procurement policies needed to incentivize and retain the best A-E firms and general contractors?
• Got Risk? How to Improve Current Project Delivery Methods. Can solving inequitable risk-sharing practices increase the speed of trust within federal project delivery?
• Can We Afford the Consequences of Not Making Changes? Can the United States continue to absorb the readiness and capability impacts of late and costly projects— ultimately affecting our national defense and economic objectives?

As the Society continues to advance industry-government engagement and support increased collaboration between all those involved in the entire project lifecycle, the IGE Summit may prove to serve as an anchor event each year that brings key issues to a national discussion that only SAME can provide.