Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
A service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) is a small business at least 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans and certified by SBA under 13 CFR Part 128, making it eligible for set-asides and sole-source awards government-wide.
The Veterans Benefit Act of 2003 created the government-wide program at 15 U.S.C. 657f; FAR subpart 19.14 implements it. SBA runs certification under 13 CFR Part 128, having taken it over from VA's Center for Verification and Evaluation, and since January 1, 2024 an offeror counts as an SDVOSB only if SAM shows SBA certification or a timely pending application. Self-certification is dead.
A set-aside under FAR 19.1405 takes the standard two-part finding: an expectation of offers from two or more eligible SDVOSB concerns and award at a fair market price. Sole source under FAR 19.1406 runs on the opposite finding — no expectation of two offers — capped at $8.5 million for manufacturing NAICS codes and $5 million for any other, up from the statute's $7 million and $3 million.
VA is the exception that swallows the rule. 38 U.S.C. 8127(d) makes veteran-owned restricted competition mandatory whenever the rule of two is met, and Kingdomware (2016) held that duty covers Federal Supply Schedule orders. Elsewhere the set-aside is discretionary, and the $5 million non-manufacturing sole-source ceiling sits below the 8(a), HUBZone, and WOSB figures; a ceiling memorized from another program will be wrong here.
Regulatory Reference
15 U.S.C. 657f; 13 CFR Part 128; FAR Subpart 19.14; 38 U.S.C. 8127
RFO Status
The Part 19 model deviation folds subpart 19.14's set-aside and sole-source mechanics into its lifecycle structure; Part 19 is not in the June 2026 first-batch proposed rules, so published subpart 19.14 remains the operative citation absent an agency deviation.
Category
Programs & Pathways
How AcqBot Helps
AcqBot verifies SBA certification in SAM before an SDVOSB set-aside or sole-source memo is drafted, applies the ceiling that matches the acquisition's NAICS code, and flags VA actions where 38 U.S.C. 8127 makes the veteran-owned rule of two mandatory rather than optional.
Related glossary entries
SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research)
SBIR and STTR are congressionally mandated programs requiring federal agencies with large R&D budgets to fund small business innovation through phased awards — feasibility (Phase I), development (Phase II), and commercialization (Phase III), which carries sole-source follow-on authority.
8(a) Business Development Program
The 8(a) Business Development Program, authorized by Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, gives SBA-certified firms owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals a nine-year term of access to sole-source and competitive set-aside federal contracts under 13 CFR Part 124.
HUBZone Program
The HUBZone program, created by the HUBZone Act of 1997 and run by SBA, steers federal contracts to small businesses that keep their principal office in a historically underutilized business zone and draw at least 35 percent of employees from HUBZone residents.
Women-Owned Small Business Program (WOSB/EDWOSB)
The Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program, created by section 8(m) of the Small Business Act, lets contracting officers set aside contracts, and make limited sole-source awards, to SBA-certified women-owned small businesses in NAICS codes where SBA finds women-owned firms underrepresented.