The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sets aside contracts for small businesses owned by veterans including those who are disabled. S. 3282 would require that businesses awarded such contracts spend no more than half of the value of the contracts on subcontractors and purchases from other businesses. That requirement would codify VA’s current practices for awarding set-aside contracts. Thus, CBO expects that the requirement would not affect the federal budget. The bill also would require such businesses to certify to VA that they will comply with the subcontracting limitation. Finally, the bill would require VA to develop processes to monitor that compliance, and to report to the Congress each year until 2025 on the number of businesses that fail to comply.
