What is SDVOSB certification and how do I qualify?
SDVOSB (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business) certification lets qualifying veteran-owned firms compete for federal set-aside and sole-source contracts. Now unified at the SBA after being previously split between SBA and VA.
The Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program gives certified firms access to federal set-aside and sole-source contracts. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a specific "Vets First" mandate that gives SDVOSB firms priority for all VA contracts.
To qualify, your business must be a small business by SBA size standards, be at least 51% owned by one or more service-disabled veterans (or their surviving spouse in certain circumstances), have day-to-day management and long-term decision authority held by the qualifying service-disabled veteran, and hold a VA disability rating (not necessarily 100%, any percentage qualifies).
As of January 2023, SDVOSB certification was consolidated at the SBA (at certify.sba.gov) after previously being split — the VA had its own separate VOSB Verification Program (VOSB was the broader "veteran-owned" category, SDVOSB the service-disabled subset). The unified system eliminates the double-registration that used to exist. Existing VA-verified firms were automatically migrated.
The federal government has a 3% goal for SDVOSB awards, roughly $18-22 billion annually. VA specifically awards about 25-30% of its total contracts to SDVOSB/VOSB firms under Vets First, and is the biggest single-agency market for veteran-owned businesses. SDVOSB firms can also stack this certification with 8(a), HUBZone, or WOSB if they meet those separate criteria.