GSA officials tout VETS at FOSE

The General Services Administration screened an "elite pool" of 43 prime contractors from a vast field of more than 250 companies to award the much-anticipated Veterans Technology Services contract late last year, Bradley Scott, regional administrator of the GSA's Heartland Region, said today at the FOSE trade show.

GSA awarded the contract, created for companies owned by service-disabled veterans, in December 2006. Scott and other GSA officials summarized their work in awarding the contracts and their hopes for its use at the three-day event in Washington. FOSE is sponsored by 1105 Government Information Group, the parent company of Washington Technology.

The presentation was part of a focused publicity campaign that GSA hopes will drive business to the VETS primes. GSA formally opened the contract for business with a notice to proceed in February.

The contract was mandated under an executive order, which also established a goal that agencies should spend 3 percent of their prime contracting dollars with service-disabled veteran-owned businesses.

In addition to the 43 contract holders, "there are also 260 service-disabled veteran-owned businesses and other small businesses on the teams" of subcontractors, said Matt Verhulst, contracts division director at GSA's Small Business GWAC Center, based in Kansas City, Mo. "It has a far broader reach than just the prime contractors."