VA withdraws rule due to comments

      The Veterans Affairs Dept. withdrew its proposed rule that would have overhauled its program that verifies small businesses owned by veterans and service-disabled veterans. Those verified firms get top priority in VA contracts.

      The VA said it canceled the rule due to the nature of the adverse comments received. Out of 203 comments, 134 were negative comments, including those from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

      The SBA said the VA did not show the legal basis of some of the proposed changes. The VA also did not fully calculate the costs of the changes to small businesses, nor did it indicate how many small firms would be affected, the SBA said.

      See more analysis of the VA withdrawal in the Page 4 column.

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