Patrick E Alcorn ⋅ Arlington, TX Veterans Business Outreach Center ⋅ 20 years experience

Certification for the sake of certification is a futile activity. Confirm your decision to certify your business by learning all you can about your customer's supplier diversity initiatives. Likewise, evaluate your own supplier diversity goals and objectives. So, don't just certify; ask your customers which certification they prefer.

Nevertheless, as of Jan 9, 2023 Veteran-owned small businesses can be certified by SBA to compete for all federal contracts. Certified veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) will have the opportunity to pursue sole-source and set-aside contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs under the VA's Vets First program. Certified service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) will have the opportunity to compete for federal sole-source and set-aside contracts across the federal government. This process a fully explained at the SBA Webisite: https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/veteran-contracting-assistance-programs

Start your application here to register and certify for federal government contracting opportunities: https://veterans.certify.sba.gov/

Additionally, based on who your customer is, there are a number of organizations that certify their members. Organizations such as NaVOBA, NVBDC, NVSBC, VIB, WBENC, and others charge a fee to certify your business. Each organization maintains a members list of VOSB/SDVOSB for their corporate partners who are seeking certified small business vendors. Many major corporations and prime contractors maintain their own list, as well. You can locate these prime contractors at https://sam.gov/content/home.

Lastly, be sure to check the state and local government agency websites, including school district websites for vendor registration information and contracting opportunities. The local entity will tell you which certification they most want you to have.

Robin Hicks ⋅ Naperville, IL BP ⋅ 41 years experience

You may want to try NVBDC, the original third party authority for certification of veteran owned businesses of all sizes and the corporations wanting to engage them. This is a vet certification accepted by most major corporations when looking for independently certified vet owned businesses. https://nvbdc.org/

Joe Giordano ⋅ Salisbury, MD Project Opportunity ⋅ 25 years experience

The Small Business Administration is now the certifying agency for SDVOSB

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

https://veterans.georgia.gov/business-certificate-exemption

https://www.amerilawyer.com/blog/vosb-certification-georgia/

https://www.georgia.org/small-business/start/certification

https://chisholmfirm.com/

Alternately, you might find these sections of my EE webpage useful:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking - 1 year FREE LinkedIn premium for veterans
http://eehot.com/ee.html#vosb
http://eehot.com/ee.html#va
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring
http://eehot.com/ee.html#funding
http://eehot.com/ee.html#3D
http://eehot.com/ee.html#fgov

http://eehot.com/ee.html#sba