ARTICLE · 02 MARCH 2020

February 2020 Small Business Roundup

Holland & Knight

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In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court surprised many by hearing a bid protest concerning the application of the "Rule of Two" for veteran-owned small businesses in procurements run by the...

United StatesGovernment, Public Sector

Kelsey M. Hayes

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Veteran-Owned Business Priority

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court surprised many by hearing a bid protest concerning the application of the "Rule of Two" for veteran-owned small businesses in procurements run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In Kingdomware Technologies Inc. vs. United States, the Supreme Court held that the VA was required to apply a Rule of Two analysis for all VA procurements to give priority to set aside competitions for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs).

The Kingdomware decision has had unexpected ripple effects in VA procurement, including disrupting the priority previously enjoyed by the AbilityOne program under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Act. In 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that VA's Rule of Two takes priority over the procurement of products or services found on the AbilityOne Procurement List and that VA contracting

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