VetBiz.gov

FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. If you are interested in a position with any of the component agencies, simply submit an application using the instructions provided in the vacancy announcement. Interested applicants can also access USAJOBS by calling 478-757-3000 or TDD 478-744-2299.

The mission of the Economics Division is to take actions that affect the economic well-being of veterans, including issues relating to veteran's employment, home loans, vocational rehabilitation, homelessness, and the Small Business Administration.

The Small Business Act of 1964 requires the Small Business Administration to give special help to Vietnam veterans. The veterans receive priority service on business loans. Veterans interested in starting a small business, or expanding an existing business, can obtain advice and guidance from the Small Business Administration's Office of Veterans' Affairs.

For more information, contact the Veterans' Affairs Officer at the nearest SBA Regional Office, or write to the Director of the Office of Veterans' Affairs, Small Business Administration, 409 3rd Street, SW, Washington, DC 20416.

Job Fairs

The American Legion has formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with RecruitMilitary and Military.com that will allow The American Legion to have a presence in all of their job fairs around the country. The main purpose of these job fairs is to provide veterans more outlets for employment. The MOU that we have implemented allows The American Legion to present information for FREE.

The Economic Commission is requesting that your departments:

1. Prepare staffing for the upcoming events in your respective departments at least 2 months in advance

a. Prepare to give out many Legion information materials and the services that are available to veterans

2. Once you have organized which Post will participate let our national division in Washington, DC know

We will send you additional pamphlets and handouts to assist you if you require them

3. Send out fliers, e-mails, faxes, fliers, and notifications of the upcoming job fairs at least 1 month in advance

4. Notify everyone within your department all the way down to each individual

Spread the word even if you are employed, YOU CAN HELP OTHERS!

5. Outreach to your local National Guard and Reserve units and notify them of the upcoming job fair

Try to do outreach to them every drill

6. Outreach to returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan

7. E-mail the flyers out to your posts and they print them out there

8. Place flyers in a newsletter or e-newsletter

9. Contact the One stop career centers

10. Contact the Director of Veterans Employment and Training (DVET) and see if they can distribute flyers to the veterans in the state and the DVOPs/LVERs

11. Contact the State Department of Veterans Affairs

12. Contact the Mayor’s office

13. Contact the local VA

2008 Job Fair Responsibilities and Duties for Departments

Are You a Service-Disabled Veteran?

The total Veteran population in the United States is estimated at 24 million. Of the approximately 80 million small businesses in this country, four million (about five percent) are Veteran-owned - more than one would expect, given the number of Veterans in the total population. The success rate of Veteran business startups is high in comparison to other business startups, partially due to the experience the Veterans have gained in the Armed Services. Upon completing a tour of enlistment or retirement, many Veterans choose to start their own businesses rather than take another job.

While there are a number of services to help Veterans with business education and loans, and many organizations to help them find jobs, until 1999, there were no services specifically focused on helping Service-Disabled Veterans enter and compete in the commercial marketplace. During and after the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s, Congress heard from many Reservists whose businesses were harmed, severely crippled, or even lost by their absence. An investigation showed a number of inequities to Veterans and Service-Disabled Veterans that needed remedy. Testimony indicated technical, financial, procurement assistance was needed by Veteran, and Service-Disabled Veteran owned small businesses.

Based on these findings, Congress enacted Public Law 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999. Initially designed to cushion the impact on small businesses when owners or essential employees are ordered to active duty, the bill was expanded to assist to Veterans who are entrepreneurs, and to Service-Disabled Veteran entrepreneurs. Loans, loan payment deferrals during time of call-up, technical and managerial assistance were mandated.

The current economy shows us that now, more than ever before; there is a critical need to nurture strong relationships between Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and the FAA. Such activity can stimulate economic growth. There are between 100,000 and 300,000 service disabled-owned small businesses in this country. We have made a strategic commitment to ensure that the doors of economic opportunity are open to you. Are you interested?

Your Name in our Database

The FAA has a small business program that we are very proud of and we want to make it even better. By establishing a usable database, we will be better able to share the many contracting opportunities that the FAA has during the year. We have identified 63,000 firms who are registered in either the Small Business Association's Pro-Net database or in the Department of Defense's Centralized Contractor Registry (CCR) database. CCR includes large and small businesses.

The Great Lakes Region of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which serves the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, is compiling a database of service disabled-owned businesses, from which we can solicit businesses when contracting opportunities become available. It is our intention to use this database to solicit vendors for various acquisition opportunities.

The term "service-disabled" means, that such disability incurred, in the line of duty while serving in the United States active military, naval, or air service. If you have a certification from the Veterans Administration (VA) designating you as a service-disabled Veteran, and you own 51 percent of, and control the daily operations of, your own business; or you work for a company owned and controlled by a service-disabled Veteran, then we want to have your company in our database. This database will help us share the many contracting opportunities generated each year by the FAA's Great Lakes Region.

Tell Us About Your Business!

Our database is ready for use. To register in our database, go to www.sbo.faa.gov/sbo/, and under the heading Source.Net / New Vendors, please provide the pertinent information.

You can find the NAICS codes by clicking here.

As a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business, you can benefit from this program by making sure the FAA has information we need to contact you in our vendor/supplier database. Let's Talk! The bottom line is that there are many, many people whose duty it is to help any business considering entering into a contractual relationship with the Federal Government.

Our job is to simplify the process so you will have the information you need to decide whether a business relationship with the Federal Government is right for you. It's not for everyone, but for those individuals with the risk tolerance and the tenacity to stick to it, it can be very rewarding.

Joe Sharpe, Director of Economics Commisson on the Subject of Homeless Veterans

As a result of his leadership the national organization has adopted a multi-year plan to establish a National Homeless Veteran Task Force and we are asking each Department to establish a Department-wide Homeless Veteran Task Force that will involve the entire American Legion Family. A packet of information has been mailed to each Department that provides an outline of the objectives, responsibilities and suggestions for involvement that we hope will provide each Department the information they need to get started.

Here in Pennsylvania you have shown your leadership in this issue for over ten years and we are hoping your successes will be an inspiration for other Departments. I thought for this presentation I would provide you with an overview from the National Economics Commission on the issue of homeless veterans some which you may be familiar with.

Let's first talk about the demographics of homelessness and homeless veterans in America. The baseline demographics and census information around America's homeless are in two reports released around December 1999. “The Forgotten Americans - Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve", released by the Interagency Council on the Homeless is their National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients done in 1996.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans has a brochure titled "Homeless Veteran Fact Sheet" that they have sent for your use which provides an overview of the report data concerning veterans.

Veteran Specific Highlights:

• 23% of homeless population are veterans
• 33% of male homeless population are veterans
• 47% Vietnam Era
• 17% post Vietnam
• 15% pre Vietnam
• 67% served three or more years
• 33% stationed in war zone
• 25% have used VA Homeless Services
• 85% completed high school/GED compared to 56% of non-veterans
• 89% received Honorable Discharge
• 79% reside in central cities
• 16% reside in suburban areas
• 5% reside in rural areas
• 76% experience alcohol, drug, or mental health problems
• 46% white males compared to 34% non-veterans
• 46% age 45 or older compared to 20% non-veterans

Service needs:

• 45% help finding job
• 37% finding housing

The Urban Institute in conjunction with the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) done in 1996 projected that During a year 2.3 - 3.5 million people are homeless in America that would then indicate by taking 23% of that range for veterans, there are 529,000 - 840,000 homeless veterans over a year.

Accurate homeless numbers community-by-community is not available. Some communities do annual counts others do an estimate based on a variety of factors. You can contact the closest Department of Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, Homeless Coordinator or the office of your mayor or other presiding government to get local information.

The United States Conference of Mayors does an annual report of 27 cities on “Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities". In this report they compare demand for homeless services over the last 16 years and there has been an increase every year, and 100% of the survey cities expect that increase in demand to continue for the next year.

In an August 16, 2002 article in the Washington Post, it describes the city of New York wrestling with options as a record number of people are in need. The city's census for homeless people is 34,500 which is 6,000 more than in the bleakest days of the late 1980's, when the face of New York's poor became a national symbol of urban poverty.

What is your community experiencing? Homelessness in America according to most advocacy organization has not decreased and affordable housing is in an extreme shortage. The National Low Income Housing Coalition produces Out of Reach in an effort to provide this information to policy makers and advocates. Out of Reach contains income and rental housing cost data for the fifty states. For each, it calculates the income that renter households need in order to afford rental housing and estimates how many of these households cannot afford to pay the Fair Market Rent, and what they would need to earn to pay the rent and keep their housing costs at 30 percent of their income, the generally accepted standard for affordability established by Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. For instance, here in Pennsylvania the average rent for a 2 bedroom unit is $671 per month, and a worker earning the minimum wage of $5.15 must work 100 hours per week in order to afford the rent. The housing wage a worker must earn in an average 40 hour work week to afford this would be $12.90 per hour. What is the data for your city?

The Interagency Council on the Homeless, is the Federal level council of all the Federal Agencies and has been inactive for many years and met in July 2002 to reactivate and begin the planning to implement the President's goal of “ending chronic homelessness in 10 years". Advocates are hoping that Federal resources will be directed at supporting this goal.

What are some of the other current key policy issues? I will highlight a few issues: In December, Congress adopted the "Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2001, PL107-95" that has the potential to add almost $1 billion in services for homeless veterans over the next six years. The challenge for veteran advocates is to get the funding appropriated now that it has been authorized.

The VA has significantly reduced number of in-patient beds for mental health & substance abuse. Of all the veterans using the VA medical system 35-40% have mental health issues but the VA only has capacity to treat about one-half of those veterans. This new law addresses an increased capacity to serve these veterans but the VA has yet to adopt a plan to make this a reality.

A critical issue is the Department of Labor Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program funding. This program provides grants to local organizations to put homeless veterans back to work, which is a critical step into becoming self reliant. This same law PL107-95 authorized Congress to appropriate up to $50 million per year for this program. However, because of competing priorities the President's budget only asks for $17.5 million in FY03.

It is critical for each of us to continually be in touch with our US Senators and US Representatives to request they support increased resources and implementation of PL107-95 that they passed to provide services to homeless veterans. There is a big need to expand and add programs throughout the nation and the current funding levels cannot support that.

How can you help?

Advocacy

Local constituents can have a large impact on the decisions of Senators and Representatives that are members of the authorizing and appropriations committees. Please communicate to them about the needs for homeless veterans.

Volunteering

Find out what local nonprofit organizations need in terms of skills and encourage the American Legion Family members to get involved.

Donations

Have a special event to raise funds for a local organization or your Department Homeless Program.

Questions?

If you have questions or comments please feel free to contact me at my Washington, DC office 202 861-2700 or you can contact our partner in this initiative, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans at 1-800-VET-HELP. Their website is listed on the brochure you received.

Thank you for this opportunity to be with you this weekend. The national organization appreciates your leadership in this national tragedy.

News from OPM:OPM and DoD Brief American Legion on National Security Personnel System
NSPS to Streamline DoD Personnel System

CONTACT: J. Porter, 202-606-2402 or jlporter@opm.gov

October 12, 2004, Washington, DC - The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in conjunction with the Department of Defense (DoD), conducted a recent briefing on the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) for representatives of the American Legion. The briefing provided information on the NSPS development background, guiding principles, NSPS program management, current outreach initiatives, and a national schedule of activities. George Nesterczuk, OPM Senior Advisor on the Department of Defense, delivered opening remarks and Mary Lacey, Program Executive Officer, NSPS, delivered the technical briefing.

"Defending Merit System Principles, guarding against prohibited personnel practices and honoring Veterans" Preference governmentwide, especially for qualified and disabled veterans, are top priorities for OPM Director Kay Coles James," said Nesterczuk. “OPM is working with DOD to ensure that federal workers who will fall under the new system are fully protected by these foundational principles."

The NSPS, as authorized by the Defense Authorization Act of 2004, will streamline much of DoD's outdated personnel system and allows DoD, jointly with OPM, to modernize a broad range of civilian personnel rules. The NSPS represents the most significant change to the civil service since the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, with flexibilities never before afforded that have the potential to impact the entire federal work force. These new flexibilities are being married with pillars of the civil service, such as Veterans Preference, in order to create a new, agile personnel system.

"As a veteran-making organization, DoD appreciates the critical importance of taking care of our veterans," stated Lacey. "Veterans are a valued constituency of DoD. Our meeting with the American Legion was to solicit their input to ensure veterans' issues and concerns are heard".

DoD continues to conduct outreach meetings to gain valuable information on crafting labor relations, appeals, and human resources design elements. Over 100 focus groups have taken place in 40 DoD facilities worldwide with the participation of over 1,000 employees. The focus groups conducted to-date have consisted of employees, civilian and military supervisors and managers, human resources professionals along with legal and equal employment opportunity staff. In addition, over 60 town hall meetings with DoD employees have taken place.

OPM and DoD also have held briefings on NSPS with other stakeholders, including public interest groups and employee advocacy organizations.

To further enhance communications with employees, an NSPS website has been established at www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps. The site is continually updated and it addresses various NSPS issues of interest to employees including pay for performance, pay banding, and labor relations.

The final NSPS regulations will be published in the Federal Register for public comment in December 2004.

OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership, including staffing tools and programs to improve work force performance.

OPM oversees the federal work force and provides the American public with up-to-date employment information. OPM also supports U.S. agencies with personnel services and policy leadership including staffing tools and programs to improve workforce performance.

Theodore Roosevelt Building
1900 E Street, NW, Room 5347
Washington, DC 20415-1000
Telephone: (202)606-2402
Fax:(202)606-2264