Disabled Veterans Win Battle in “Good Faith” Fight to Save Taxpayers Money

Disabled veteran companies and taxpayers are both winners in recent changes promoted by California’s wounded warriors. The non-profit California Disabled Veterans Business Alliance has fought the Good Faith Effort (GFE) provision in State contracting as a useless diversion actually keeping business away from Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises (DVBE). Now, the State has acted on the recommendations of the Alliance in coordination with DGS and other state agencies and has passed legislation to eliminate the GFE effective 28 July 2009.

By promoting equality with the State of California’s Small Business preference and eliminating the GFE, taxpayers will save money and disabled veterans have greater access to State contract opportunity. The DVBE Alliance and many veterans organizations know many veterans were giving up in pursuing guaranteed State contract opportunity because of ‘false fronts’ in good faith programs and massive amounts of paperwork previously required for certification.

By eliminating the GFE more opportunity for DVBE is created and there are lower costs for taxpayers, saving thousands of hours wasted in preparing bids and reducing the waste in paperwork According to recent Federal reports, “Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy in the United States. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration documented that small businesses accounted for over 92% of the net new jobs created between 1989 and 2003.”

Other recommendations in the Alliance memo sent to DGS in early June 2009 include simplifying the legislation on Commercial Useful Function and eliminating the need for DVBE to submit tax returns for recertification annually. We need to make the Public Contracting Code and the Military and Veterans Code look alike so that laws and regulations for small business and DVBE are basically the same.

For more information visit www.cadvbe.org <http://www.cadvbe.org> , or call Rich Dryden, Executive Director, California Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Alliance at 916-446-3510.