The Defense Department is making it easier for small contractors to bill the department directly for their work. A contractor will no longer have to have an approved billing system in order to participate in direct billing, according to an Aug. 17 memo from the director of defense procurement and acquisition policy.

DOD says that in addition to easing requirements for small firms, the new policy will relieve the department of the administrative burden of processing low-risk payment vouchers.

A Connecticut congressman has proposed requiring verification of the eligibility of service-disabled veteran-owned businesses before they can be listed in VA’s database.

Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney said his bill, the Veteran Owned Small Business Contracting Fairness Act (H.R. 6022), is a response to Government Accountability Office reports of fraud in the SDV program.

VA has said it does not expect to verify the eligibility of all SDV firms until 2012, and would need more money to speed up the process.

SBA has named a Buffalo, NY, company its 8(a) graduate firm of the year. Edward Watts, president of Watts Architecture & Engineering PC, was to be honored during Minority Enterprise Development Week in Washington.

SBA administrator Karen Mills presented the Administrator’s Leadership Award to Jeanette Brown, director of EPA’s office of small and disadvantaged business utilization.