funds will be issued back to the performing SDVOSB at the end of the 12-month calendar performance period at 0% interest in favor of the U.S Government. Background For a veteran who suffers a disability while in military service, the US Government has deemed it its moral obligation to provide the disabled veteran a range of benefits designed to ease the economic and other losses and disadvantages incurred as a consequence of the disability. These benefits include government assistance for entering the federal procurement marketplace. To achieve that objective, section 15(g) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644(g)) provides that the president must establish a goal of not less than 3 percent of procurement expenditure for participation by service-disabled veteran owned businesses in federal contracting, and section 36 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 657f) gives agency contracting officers the authority to reserve certain procurements for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. Subsequently, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13360 on October 20, 2004. The Executive Order was issued "to strengthen opportunities in federal contracting for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concerns". Veteran-Owned small businesses (VOSBs) without the service-disabled element are not eligible for sole source contracts and procurement set-asides but the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires federal agencies to actively encourage their prime contractors to use VOSBs as subcontractors. Lack of compliance The office who receives and sets aside SDVOSB contracts has no ability to award contracts, the requested percentage of such contracts is significantly lower than it should be. A number of memos and orders have been issued to correct this trend. The Administrator of Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued a memo about VETS GWAC dated July 10, 2007, for chief acquisition officers and senior procurement executives. The memo strongly calls for agency participation in the use of VETS GWAC as a way of meeting the top priority of increasing opportunities for small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Achievements Mischler Financial Group Inc. was the first federally certified service-disabled veteran-owned business to become a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). See also VETS-GWAC References External links Center for Veterans Enterprise (official site for the VA) American Veteran Owned Business Association (aVOBa) (Website) National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) (Website) GSA.gov VETS Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) page SDVOSB FAQ SDVOSB Home Page Directory of Veteran Owned Businesses Business Registration Service Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization