How can the OSDBU Direct Connect Program help Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, and the Small Business Community?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) plays a large role in ensuring that programs, services, and support resources reach the Veteran Small Business community.

OSDBU has a robust and active role in Veteran Small Business Outreach.  The Direct Connect Program can assist Small Businesses, specifically Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses across the nation to connect and market their products and services to the VA.  VA continues to provide events and opportunities for Small Business to engage with Program Decision Makers (PDMs) in specific industries.

The Direct Connect Program will provide the Small Business Community with Awareness, Access, and Risk Management.

Awareness:  It is our goal to cultivate awareness in order to reflect and respond to challenges and opportunities rather than react to them.  Conscious awareness is a process of recognizing what is happening in an organization, the effects of decisions, and actions in the organization, and how complex and diversified the organization is, such as VA, when it comes to Small Businesses marketing their products and services.

Access:  Access is providing easier methods to market to VA by providing VA PDMs in different industries to brief and engage with Small Businesses through the use of Opportunity Showcases, Industry Days, workshops, and conference events.

Risk Management:  Risk Management solutions can help reduce problems a Veteran Small Business may encounter when doing business with the Federal Government, and can help solve and reduce problems the Federal Government may have doing business with a Small Business.