Senators Push SDV Contracting Leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee attacked government agencies for their poor record in awarding contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned businesses. “What does it say about our country if we can’t help our veterans, the veterans that have become disabled in the service of their country?” asked Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the committee’s ranking Republican, at a July 18 hearing. DOD awarded less than one-half of one percent of its prime contract dollars to SDV firms in 2005, the latest figures available, far short of the 3% goal set by law. “I don’t think there has been a real commitment to it,” said committee Chairman John Kerry, D-MA. “I really think it’s just been off the radar screen.” DOD’s small business director, Anthony Martoccia, said the department is committed to SDV contracting “from the top to the bottom.” He outlined plans for additional outreach to SDV businesses and regular meetings with interested groups. “Well, I think that’s real effort,” Kerry replied. SBA’s analysis of preliminary figures for 2006 “suggests significant efforts toward an improvement” in SDV contracting governmentwide, according to the agency’s associate administrator for veterans business development, William Elmore. He testified July 12 before a Senate Veterans Affairs subcommittee. The administrator of Federal Procurement Policy, Paul Denett, has urged agencies to consider the VETS governmentwide acquisition contract for their IT needs. In a July 17 memo he said, “Increasing opportunities for our service-disabled veterans is a top priority.”