MicroTech among disabled-veteran-owned firms the Department of Veterans Affairs counted as small
Under federal mandates, agencies must strive to direct at least 23 percent of their contract spending to small businesses, including at least 3 percent to small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. A Washington Post investigation found that the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded contracts to MicroTech and counted the revenue as going to a small, service-disabled-veteran-owned firm, when most of it went to larger companies. Read related article.
View a table of ALL federal money
awarded to MicroTech
Contracts awarded to small, disabled-veteran firms by VA
2006 to 2007
Anthony R. Jimenez formed MicroTech in 2004 and operated it as a service-disabled-veteran-owned small firm. MicroTech later was certified by the Small Business Administration as a disadvantaged firm. The firm was eligible for set-aside contracts under both designations.
Most of the top 10 recipients' VA
contracts were in the $60 million range. MicroTech's deals regularly exceeded that amount.
$69 million
2007 to 2008
MicroTech received tens of millions of dollars in work orders from VA, helping push it to the forefront of small, disadvantaged and service-disabled-veteran-owned firms.
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Between 2006 and 2012, only twice did another small, disabled-veteran firm receive more money from VA than MicroTech.
$69 million
$74 million
2008 to 2009
MicroTech certified that its annual average revenue was less than $10 million. Federal data showed the firm’s contracts were worth an average of $49 million. MicroTech told The Post that more than 90 percent of the VA money went to large companies. Because of this, MicroTech said it fell below the $25 million limit to qualify for certain small contracts.
$69 million
$74 million
$108 million
2009 to 2010
In a contract dispute, a competitor filed a protest that alleged MicroTech was too large to qualify for deals reserved for firms with revenue of $25 million or less. An SBA reviewer accepted MicroTech’s assertion that its reportable revenue was $14 million.
$69 million
$74 million
$108 million
$172 million
2010 to 2011
MicroTech continued to certify to the government that it was small for the purposes of contracts, with a size standard of $25 million or less in average annual revenue.
$69 million
$74 million
$108 million
$172 million
$143 million
2011 to 2012
In November 2011, MicroTech told the government it was no longer qualified to receive orders on a contract reserved for small businesses with revenue of $25 million or less.
Another small, disabled-veteran firm received more money.
$69 million
$74 million
$108 million
$172 million
$143 million
$122 million
SOURCE: Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Procurement Data System, Paul Murphy of Bloomberg Government.