Official statistics from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) indicate that veteran-owned businesses were awarded 0.6 percent of total prime contract dollars in Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 and 0.4 percent in FY 2001. However, according to the new analysis veteran-owned businesses received at least 1.7 percent of prime contract dollars in FY 2002 and 1.6 percent in FY 2001.

"Today America's veterans received some good news," said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy. "The grim federal procurement numbers for veteran-owned businesses just got a little better. But, many federal agencies still have a long way to go to reach their procurement goals, particularly their three percent goal for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses," he said.

Among the study's findings is the fact that thousands of companies flagged as veteran-owned in the Department of Defense's Central Contractor Registry, in the Small Business Administration's ProNet file, and by Dun and Bradstreet are not coded as veteran-owned in the General Service Administration's master prime contract file. Consequently, the FPDS substantially understated the number of veteran-owned businesses.

Eagle Eye Publishers wrote Characteristics of Federal Government Procurement Spending With Veteran-Owned Businesses FY 2000 - FY 2003 (3Q), with funding from the Office of Advocacy.

The Office of Advocacy, the "small business watchdog" of the government, examines the role and status of small business in the economy and independently represents the views of small business to federal agencies, Congress, and the President. It is the source for small business statistics presented in user-friendly formats and it funds research into small business issues.

Source:sbaonline.sba.gov