Bloomberg
Kathleen Miller
March 14, 2012
The U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs has rejected almost two-thirds of veterans seeking
special contracts, snubbing some of them because they live in
community property states or did emergency work in Haiti.
The VA says it has turned away about 4,700 of the more than
7,200 companies requesting preferential status as veteran-owned
businesses since it began a verification process last year.
Veterans say they are baffled by the explanations, including the
agency’s concerns about laws in California and eight other
“community property” states where a spouse might be entitled
to half a veteran owner’s share in a business.
Kevin Treiber was rejected in February, when the VA told
him he wasn’t eligible because the Department of Health and
Human Services had paid him for two weeks of work helping Haiti
earthquake victims in 2010. Technically, that made him a
government employee, the VA said. He was reinstated today.
“I am happy to be reinstated, but extremely disappointed
that this entire incident happened,” said Treiber, 40, a
disabled Army veteran and nurse who owns TDY Medical Staffing
Inc. of Lower Makefield, Pennsylvania. “My hope is that VA will
improve this process and make attempts to become more veteran
friendly. I hope that other veterans who own businesses won’t
have to be subjected to this sort of stress and aggravation.”
Continue Reading >>
Posted
Mar 28 2012, 08:59 PM
by
BusyBee