SDVOSB certification
Service-disabled veteran-owned small business certification is the strongest set-aside in federal contracting, because agencies have a legal target to hit and relatively few certified firms to hit it with. Here is what it takes, and how much work is actually behind it today.
405
federal solicitations are open right now and set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, 3.8% of the 10,582 open across all types. Counted from live SAM and DIBBS data, updated hourly.
Who qualifies
A veteran with a service-connected disability rating from the VA must own at least 51% of the company and control its day to day operations and its long term decisions. Both halves matter. Ownership on paper with someone else running the business is the single most common reason an application is refused.
The business must also be small under the SBA size standard for the NAICS code it is bidding in, which is a revenue or headcount limit that differs by code. The same company can be small under one code and not under another.
What it costs and how long it takes
Certification itself is free. It is applied for through the SBA, which took over verification from the VA in January 2023, so a single certification now covers both VA work and the rest of the federal government. That consolidation is recent enough that a lot of advice online still describes the old two-track system.
Expect around 90 days. Anyone charging you a fee to obtain the certification is selling you help with a free application, which is legal but worth knowing.
Is it worth it
The honest answer is that it depends on your NAICS codes, not on the certification. There are 405 SDVOSB set-aside solicitations open right now, but they are not spread evenly. Construction, facilities and IT services carry most of them; some codes have none at all in a given month.
Check your own codes before you spend 90 days on the paperwork. A certification that unlocks nothing in your line of work is a certification worth skipping.
The sole source rule people miss
A contracting officer can award an SDVOSB contract directly, without competition, up to $4.5 million for most work and $7 million for manufacturing. That is the part of the programme that actually changes outcomes, and it only happens if an officer already knows who you are. Certification gets you eligible; it does not get you found.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between VOSB and SDVOSB?
VOSB is veteran-owned. SDVOSB requires a service-connected disability rating from the VA. Federal set-asides are overwhelmingly written for SDVOSB, so the disability rating is what unlocks the work.
Do I need to be certified to bid, or just to win?
To bid on a set-aside you must already be certified at the time you submit. Certifying after you find a contract you want is too late for that contract.
Does SDVOSB certification expire?
Yes, it runs three years and has to be recertified. Your underlying SAM registration also has to be renewed every year, and an expired SAM registration stops you being awarded anything regardless of certification.
Can I hold SDVOSB and another certification at the same time?
Yes. Many firms hold SDVOSB alongside HUBZone or 8(a), and a solicitation set aside for any one of them is open to you. They stack rather than compete.
Are there grants for service-disabled veteran businesses?
Very few, and almost none are federal. The federal support is contract set-asides rather than grants, which is why the number at the top of this page matters more than any grant list.
Related
CAGE code lookup · Find your NAICS codes · Browse open solicitations · Can I bid yet?