The email below as you will notice was sent on 9/19/2009 to hundreds of SDVOSB in Californi. Please see the subsequent post in response to this letter.

From: <vip@mail.va.gov>

Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:50:20

Subject: Onsite Examinations of Applicants for Verifcation

Frank Mancini

IRG Plotters &amp;ampamp Printers, Inc.

Your company applied to have the Center for Veterans Enterprise CVE verify its Veteran-owned status under Public Law 109-461.  The Code of Federal Regulations, Part 38 Paragraph 74, authorizes CVE to examine ownership and control records to verify that businesses are eligible to participate in VA&#8217;s buying authority established under Public Law 109-461, Section 502 and 503. 

The Center for Veterans Enterprise started conducting the onsite examinations this month September 2009.  You should be prepared for a team of one or more examiners to visit your company to examine the necessary documents and records.  The Team Leader will have a VA identification badge and a letter of introduction signed by the Director of the Center for Veterans Enterprise. 

If you do not wish to participate in the onsite examination, you must officially notify the Center for Veterans Enterprise by the close of business September 18, 2009, by e-mail to VACVE@va.gov stating that your company is withdrawing its application for verification.  The email must state the company name to be withdrawn, and be sent by and signed by the Applicant Company&#8217;s majority owner. 

Procurement provisions contained in Section 8127 of Title 38, U.S.Code, as amended by Public Law 109-461, provide Veteran-owned small businesses VOSBs and service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses SDVOSBs an option when registering their businesses in VIP be verified for ownership and control or self-represent. Businesses wishing to benefit from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VA&#8217;s unique Veterans First Contracting Program under Section 8127 must agree to be verified.  By applying for verification, you have elected to participate in this voluntary program.

As outlined under 38 CFR &#167;74.28, &#8220;Personnel from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Center for Veterans Enterprise CVE and its agents, including personnel from the Small Business Administration, may examine records to ascertain the ownership and control of the applicant or participant.&#8221;  In accordance with this authority, CVE has assigned its agents, as identified by their Department of Veterans Affairs identification badge, to examine records as part of this verification process.  As such, they are provided with the expressed authority vested under CVE to examine such records as identified by statute in order to assist in determination of ownership and control requirements.    

In general, as outlined in 38 CFR &#167;74.20,

&#8220;A verification examination is an investigation by CVE officials, which verifies the accuracy of any statement or information provided as part of the VetBiz VIP Verification application process. Thus, examiners may verify that the concern currently meets the eligibility requirements, and that it met such requirements at the time of its application or its most recent size recertification. An examination may be conducted on a random basis, or upon receipt of specific and credible information alleging that a participant no longer meets eligibility requirements.&#8221;

&#8220;CVE may conduct the examination, or parts of the program examination, at one or all of the participant&#8217;s offices. CVE will determine the location of the examination. Examiners may review any information related to the concern&#8217;s eligibility requirements including, but not limited to, documentation related to the legal structure, ownership and control of the concern. As a minimum, examiners shall review all documents supporting the application, as described in 38 CFR &#167;74.12. These include financial statements Federal personal and business tax returns personal history statements and Request for Copy or Transcript of Tax Form IRS Form 4506 for up to 3 years. Other documents, which may be reviewed include as applicable Articles of Incorporation/Organization corporate by-laws or operating agreements organizational, annual and board/member meeting records stock ledgers and certificates State-issued Certificates of Good Standing contract, lease and loan agreements payroll records bank account signature cards and licenses.&#8220;

Should you have any questions about this lawful authorization for CVE&#8217;s agents to examine your records, please feel free to contact the Center for Veterans Enterprise at 866 584-2344, or 202 303-3260. 

Our Products are available at no charge

1. VetBiz.gov web portal information services offers convenient, two-way communications between government, corporate and owner communities.

2. VetBiz.gov Vendor Information Pages database of verified businesses

3. Toll-free business and procurement coaching support: This is the core of what we do. Call us when you have a question. Call us when you want clarification of what you already know. Call us when you think something is not right. We want to know what is happening with you as you try to sell your products and services to the Government or its prime contractors. We want to know what is happening with you as a government or corporate official trying to support this program. We especially want to hear from you with improvement ideas!! Veterans, call us toll-free at 1.866.584.2344, Monday-Friday, 7AM – 5PM Eastern Time.

4. Free delivery of FedBizOpps notices and notices from VA’s Forecast of Contracting Opportunities, customized to your specifications

5. VetBiz.gov Assistance Program Pages database: find specialists who will help your business in Start-up, Finance, Training, Procurement and Business Development.

6. Business Owners’ Toolkit: Keep the legislation, executive order, acquisition regulations, applicable code of federal regulations citations and other key files right on your flash drive or laptop. This helps when meeting individuals who are new or unfamiliar with the program. This product is co-branded with the General Services Administration.

7. Customized Business Process maps: As a future or current business owner, you can face unknowns daily. We’re available to coach you to the next step and we’re good listeners. We like hearing what is happening with you because other owners may be looking at similar questions or obstacles. Our business map will help you figure out when to drive forward, when to slow down and when to turn in order to reach your destination.

8. Customized market research reports: If you have money to spend, we want to help you make a decision to spend it with veteran-owned businesses. We know how busy acquisition teams can be, so we’ll run the database queries if you want us to do so.

9. Customized awareness briefings and community outreach programs: next to our call center support, this may be the second most favorite thing we do. We travel to where you do business, meet face-to-face, learn what your life is really like and try to offer help. What’s not to like about that?

10. VetFran: discounted franchising support through International Franchise Association franchisors; more than 1,000 veterans have taken advantage of this program since 2002.

11. Trending reports: This is really good stuff. We are fierce in searching for numbers to trend. So far, we’ve published trend lines for Federal agencies’ SDVOSB achievements since Fiscal Year 2001. We’re hoping to get similar trend charts done for subcontracting achievements. We also do other work like monitor the growth of businesses over time. Sometimes, we scratch our heads and try to make sense of it all. Most of the time, we simply say “Aha! Look at that!”

12. Awards and Recognition Programs: OK, forget everything that came before this. We really, really, like the awards program. We host this each year in June, on or around Flag Day. We honor Enterprising Veterans who exemplify the motto: Veterans in Business - Still Serving America! We celebrate the work of the advocates selected as Champions of Veterans Enterprise. While it may not be a big to-do by other award program standards, these ceremonies are very special to us.

13. Our Briefing Materials: We have a great DVD library that explains our program. We have some really fantastic posters. We make these available at no charge to offices that want to visually display their support for veterans in business. We have some very professional Executive brochures and a nice product catalog that offers a lot of detail on our offerings. In addition, and these, too, are more favorites – we will customize a Then and Now poster for business owners (give us a photo of the owner in military uniform and a second photo as the business owner today), we will put the owner’s name and business name on it for posting at the company’s headquarters. This also works for contracting teams who make awards to these owners. Another offering for owners is the 3-minute video clip they can post to our database.