The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has sided with the Veterans Affairs Department in its longstanding dispute with auditors about to what extent to put “Vets First” in departmental contracting.

In a Nov. 27 decision, the court ruled that the VA has discretion on whether to apply preferences for veteran-owned firms in contracts.

The VA is not obligated to favor veteran-owned firms for all contracts under the ruling.

The decision endorsed the VA’s interpretation of a 2006 law known as Vets First.

The court’s ruling means “the VA has discretion to procure goods and services from the Federal Supply Schedule without first having to determine whether it can conduct the acquisition using restricted competition for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or veteran-owned small businesses,” PilieroMazza law firm said in a client alert.

“The court’s decision, captioned as Kingdomware Technologies, Inc. v. United States, vindicates the VA’s position that the statutory priority for SDVOSBs and VOSBs in VA acquisitions does not apply to Federal Supply Schedule procurements,” the law firm said.

The court’s ruling is a departure from several Government Accountability Office decisions. The GAO has contended that Vets First created a mandatory set-aside procedure that gives preference to veteran-owned small firms. The GAO has alleged that at least 18 procurements by the VA were unlawful under Vets First, according to Bloomberg Government.

U.S. Federal Claims Judge Nancy Firestone in Washington said the VA did not violate the law.

“The court respectfully disagrees with the GAO’s interpretation of the 2006 act in the case at hand, and finds that the VA’s decision not to set aside the ENS contract at issue was not arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law,” Firestone said in a 35-page decision, according to Bloomberg.