Improving Opportunities for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Act of 2014

Bill: 113-s-2334
Sponsor: Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
Introduced: 2014-05-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Congressional oversight
Department of Veterans Affairs
Disability and paralysis
Government studies and investigations
Small Business Administration
Small business
Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation

Summary:
action_date: 2014-05-14
text: 
Improving Opportunities for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses Act of 2014 - Amends the Small Business Act to expand the definition of "small business concern owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans" for purposes of federal agencies awarding small business contracts pursuant to Small Business Administration (SBA) programs to include: (1) a small business concern not less than 51% of which is owned by one or more veterans with service-connected disabilities that are permanent and total who are unable to manage the daily business operations of such concern; or (2) in the case of a publicly owned business, a small business concern not less than 51% of the stock of which is owned by one or more such veterans. (Currently, such veterans with permanent and total disabilities are provided for in a separate small business program under veterans' benefits laws carried out by the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA].)
 
Revises the VA definition of "small business concern owned and controlled by veterans" to be the same as the SBA definition of such term, thereby making the eligibility requirements for participation in veteran-owned small business contracting programs consistent for both SBA programs and VA programs. 
 
Provides that if the death of a service-disabled veteran causes a small business concern to be less than 51% owned by one or more such veterans, the surviving spouse of such veteran who acquires ownership rights in such small business concern shall be treated as if the surviving spouse were that veteran for the purpose of maintaining the business's eligibility for such contracting programs until the earliest of the following dates: (1) the date on which the surviving spouse either remarries or relinquishes the ownership interest, (2) 10 years after the veteran's death in the case of a surviving spouse of a veteran with a service-connected disability rated as 100% disabling or who dies as a result of a service-connected disability, or (3) 3 years after the veteran's death in the case of a surviving spouse of a veteran with a service-connected disability rated as less than 100% disabling who does not die as a result of a service-connected disability. (Currently, the SBA program does not provide such treatment for surviving spouses while the VA program provides such treatment only until remarriage, ownership relinquishment, or for 10 years with respect to surviving spouses of veterans with a 100% disabling service-connected disability or who die as a result of a service-connected disability.)
 
Requires a Comptroller General (GAO) report on the advisability of the SBA or the VA having government-wide responsibility for verifying businesses purporting to be small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-05-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
action_date: 2014-05-14
text: Introduced in Senate