NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Washington, DC – In separate letters to President Clinton and Acting Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hershel Gober, Lane Evans of Illinois, Democratic Leader of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, called for help in giving veterans -- especially service-connected disabled veterans -- an opportunity to compete for federal procurement contracts on a level playing field. Reminding both of them that Clinton signed the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act into law a year ago, Evans noted no federal agency, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, has yet taken action to ensure veterans are provided equal access to federal contracts.

"Congress enacted the Veterans Entrepreneur Act to help veteran entrepreneurs," said Evans. "One area we spelled out in the legislation was competition for federal procurement contracts. We urged the President and Acting Secretary Gober to use their authority to ensure that VA takes the action needed to provide veterans at the earliest opportunity the opportunity to compete for VA procurements."

The Veterans Entrepreneur Act became effective immediately when signed into law on August 17, 1999. "It does not require agency regulations," Evans said. "Agencies need only to include eligible veterans into the procedures already established for ‘small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and small business concerns owned and controlled by women’ with respect to federal procurement activities."

Agency response has been slow. For example, to date, the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Council has not amended its forms to reflect the changes in the law. Furthermore, agency heads are failing to consider veterans when attempting to achieve their procurement goals.

Evans urged the President and Acting Secretary Gober to lead by example and take steps to immediately implement the Veterans Entrepreneur Act in all Federal procurement activities, to see that all Federal agencies provide America's veterans the fullest opportunity afforded by our laws. "The delay in implementing the procurement provisions of the Veterans Entrepreneur Act is unfairly denying our Nation's veterans access to Federal contracts," Evans wrote. He also requested them to ensure that the FAR Council immediately implements the Veterans Entrepreneur Act and its amendments and avoid all future delay.

The letter to President Clinton was co-signed by Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Rep. David Bonior, (D-MI), and the letter to Acting Secretary Gober was co-signed by Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Stump.