Government Contracts
The Government Reserves 5% of Its Contract Dollars for Disabled Veterans. Hundreds of Federal Bids Are Set Aside for Them at Any Time, and the VA Can Buy the Tools to Start the Business.
Federal law sets a goal that at least 5% of federal contract dollars each year go to small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans. Hundreds of open federal bids are set aside for those businesses at any time, most of them posted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department. Here is who can compete, how certification works, what the VA will pay for when a veteran starts a business, and where to find every open bid.
WASHINGTON — A set-aside is the simplest advantage in federal contracting. When a contracting officer sets a bid aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, only those businesses can compete, and the government counts every dollar of the award toward a yearly goal written into the Small Business Act. That goal was 3% for more than two decades. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2024, Public Law 118-31, raised it to at least 5% of federal prime contract and subcontract dollars each fiscal year.
The open bids show where that money goes. On a typical recent day, October 30, 303 notices were set aside for these businesses: 217 were live solicitations taking offers, 57 were notices of bids coming soon, and 21 were sources-sought requests where an agency asks which qualified businesses are out there before it writes the bid. Nine were sole-source set-asides. Building construction was the largest single line of work with 56 notices, followed by professional and technical services with 42, specialty trade contractors such as electrical, plumbing and roofing with 30, and fabricated metal products with 27. Texas had the most with a place of work listed, at 21, followed by New York, California and Illinois. The count changes every day as bids close and new ones post, and UXContract.com/veterans keeps the current list, updated twice a day.
An engineer fits a prosthetic arm. Photo: ThisIsEngineering, via Pexels.
Who the VA buys from first
The Department of Veterans Affairs posts most of these set-asides, 189 of the 303 on October 30, and that is no accident. Under its Veterans First program, the VA gives veteran-owned businesses first priority on its own purchasing. When a VA contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more qualified veteran-owned businesses will submit offers at a fair price, the contract is set aside for them, with service-disabled veteran-owned businesses first in line and other veteran-owned businesses next. The VA's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization runs the program and lists the contacts for each part of the department.
The Veterans Administration Building in Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which posts more veterans set-asides than any other agency. Photo: APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Defense Department is second, with 106 that day, most of them from the Defense Logistics Agency, which buys the replacement parts that keep military vehicles, aircraft and equipment running. Those notices are short and specific, a bracket assembly, a pressure switch, a hand truck, and each one names the exact part and quantity the agency needs.
Getting certified
To win a set-aside, a business has to be certified, and since January 1, 2023 that certification comes from the Small Business Administration through its Veteran Small Business Certification program, known as VetCert. The VA verified veteran businesses for years before that, and those businesses moved to SBA when the program changed hands. A business qualifies when it is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more veterans, or by service-disabled veterans for the SDVOSB certification, and when it is small under the SBA size standard for its industry. The rules are in Part 128 of Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
There is no self-certifying for VA set-asides, and since December 22, 2024 certification is also required for a veteran-owned business to count toward federal subcontracting goals, which matters to every large prime contractor looking for veteran subcontractors. Applications go through SBA's certification site, and SBA runs a VetCert help line at 866-722-4357 and an email address, certifications@sba.gov, for questions along the way.
The VA can buy the tools
Veteran Readiness and Employment, the VA program many veterans still know as Chapter 31 or Voc Rehab, has a self-employment track for veterans with a service-connected disability whose plan is to run their own business. A veteran who qualifies works with a VR&E counselor on a business plan, and the VA reviews whether the business can work before it approves the plan.
With an approved plan, the VA can pay for the tools, supplies and essential equipment the business needs, a minimum starting stock, license fees, and training in running a business, under 38 CFR 21.214 and 21.257. The same rules leave out land, buildings, leases and rentals, and trucks, cars or other vehicles, so a welding business can be set up with its welder, grinders and safety gear while the truck to haul them comes from somewhere else. The counselor handles the purchasing, and some of those purchases are posted on SAM.gov as contract opportunities of their own. In late October, for example, the VA had an open solicitation for laser equipment for a veteran in the program and a request for information on VR&E self-employment services.
Surplus property for veteran businesses
Certified veteran-owned small businesses can also get federal surplus personal property through their state's State Agency for Surplus Property, the same agencies that distribute surplus to cities, schools and nonprofits. The business has to be VetCert certified, located in that state and using the property in the business. Property received this way cannot be resold during the restriction period and has to be put to use within a year, and each state agency sets its own service charges and paperwork.
Training and help in person
Veterans and their families at an Operation Boots to Business workshop held by the Arizona Army National Guard with the Small Business Administration in 2014. Photo: Sgt. Adrian Borunda, Arizona Army National Guard, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Boots to Business is SBA's entrepreneurship course for service members and military spouses, taught as part of the Defense Department's Transition Assistance Program, mostly by SBA district office staff and Veterans Business Outreach Centers. Boots to Business Reboot brings the same course to those who don't have access to a military installation. The Veterans Business Outreach Centers also give one-on-one help with business plans, financing and contracting, and every SBA district office has a Veterans Business Development Officer. For financing, veteran-owned businesses use the same SBA 7(a) and 504 loans as any small business, through SBA lenders.
Equipping the business at government auctions
The equipment a new contractor needs is sold every week at government auctions across the country: pickups and service trucks, trailers, generators, compressors, welders, shop tools and heavy equipment. UXSearch.app searches those sales from 33 government auction platforms in one place, and its price reports show what the same equipment actually sold for, so a buyer knows the going price before placing a bid. Purchases a veteran makes at a public auction are separate from VR&E, which does its own buying through the counselor.
The short version
Federal law sets a goal of at least 5% of contract dollars for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Hundreds of open federal bids are set aside for them at any time, most from the VA and the Defense Department, with construction, professional services and specialty trades leading. Certification comes from SBA's VetCert program. VA's Veteran Readiness and Employment self-employment track can pay for tools, supplies and essential equipment in an approved plan, though not vehicles or buildings. UXContract.com/veterans lists every open set-aside, updated twice a day.
Join the First Contact members list
The First Contact members list is the UX Auctions member email, and it is free. Members hear about the sales we follow, and what sold, before anyone else: the sale announcements, the lot lists, the results, what sold last week, and every new issue of the magazine, all in one list. New veterans set-aside bids and the equipment sales that go with them go to First Contact members first.
Join the First Contact members list · Free. Members hear about the sales, and what sold, first.
About the UX Network
UXAuctions.com is the flagship publication of the UX Network, a government marketplace media and technology company connecting buyers, businesses, contractors, and government agencies nationwide. Our five interconnected platforms — UXAuctions.com, UXSearch.app, UXContract.com, UXNews.app, and UXConsole.com — bring together government auctions, contracts, grants, breaking industry news, market research, and professional business tools. Built on decades of government surplus and commercial fleet experience, the UX Network combines original journalism, advanced search technology, and real-world expertise to make the government marketplace more accessible, transparent, and connected than ever before. Our public information and search platforms are free to use, with optional professional services for businesses that want more.
Backhoe at government auction, closing soonest
All backhoe auctions →Live now on UX Search, from the agencies that sell their surplus. Updated every hour.
NEW HOLLAND BACKHOE (DIESEL)$3,839 · Baton Rouge, LASold: $8,800 mid
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2002 Komatsu Backhoe$1,660 · McCormick, SCcloses in 3 days · GovDeals
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WOODS BACKHOE ATTACHMENT$1,000 · Little Rock, ARcloses in 9 days · GovDeals
Government bids for roofing, due soonest
All 19 →Open federal bids from SAM.gov on UX Contract, free to search. 8 due this week.
Photo & Resource Information Credits: ThisIsEngineering, via Pexels; APK, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Sgt. Adrian Borunda, Arizona Army National Guard (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
© 2026 UX™ LLC. All Rights Reserved.
UX Auctions reported this article independently. UX Contract is not a government website, and we do not certify businesses, award contracts or take bids; certification is handled by the Small Business Administration and contracts by the agencies that post them. The photographs are credited to their photographers: the prosthetic fitting is a stock photo from Pexels and does not show anyone named in this article, the VA headquarters photo is used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and the Boots to Business photo is a U.S. government work in the public domain.
Sources: SAM.gov contract opportunities, active notices as saved October 30, 2026; 15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)(A)(ii) as amended by Public Law 118-31; 13 CFR Part 128; SBA, Veteran small business resources and certifications and Boots to Business pages, read October 30, 2026; VA, Veteran Readiness and Employment self-employment page, read October 30, 2026; 38 CFR 21.214 and 21.257; VA Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, read October 30, 2026.