Bill aims to set aside state contracts for veteran-owned businesses

Jan. 14--A proposal to create a set-aside program for veteran-owned business is resurfacing in the Connecticut General Assembly.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Stephen Harding, a Republican who represents the 107th District, would set aside 5 percent of state contracts to be awarded to veteran-owned businesses for goods and services each fiscal year.

The proposal has the support of the Connecticut Veterans Chamber of Commerce, which represents veteran-owned businesses and veterans looking to reintegrate into civilian life. Michael Zacchea, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who founded the group, said the set-aside program would create a special value for business-owning veterans in the state.

Similar legislative efforts have failed in the past, in part because the argument has been made that there aren't enough veteran-owned small businesses in the state to justify a set-aside program exclusively for them.

However, according to Zacchea, there are 31,000 veteran-owned businesses in Connecticut and 10,000 partially owned veteran businesses. A veteran-owned business is defined as one that is 51 percent owned by a veteran or veterans.

In testimony before the state's Veterans' Affairs Committee last year, Zacchea detailed existing veteran-owned business laws across the country. At that time, 29 states either had such legislation on their books or pending legislation. Of those, eight states had established preferences for veteran-owned businesses when bidding on state contracts and 10 states had set-aside programs for such businesses. Only three states, Maryland, Michigan and Wisconsin, had both.

Zacchea's testimony was in favor of a bill, which passed last legislative session, authorizing the Department of Administrative Services commissioner, which handles state contracts, to give up to a 15 percent price preference to veteran-owned small businesses. That means that if a business owned by a veteran comes in 15 percent over the lowest bid, it gets the contract.

Already, the commissioner was authorized to give small businesses -- defined as having under $3 million in revenue in the previous year -- a 10-percent preference.

Zacchea said at this point it's about making veterans aware that the preference exists. He noted that the number of resources and programs available to Connecticut veterans has increased in recent years, but that stakeholders haven't done a good enough job of telling that story.

j.bergman@theday.com

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