When Sergeant First Class David Miller got out of the Army in 2024 after 22 years, he had a new mission: build a business. He started Patriot Builds, a construction company focused on sustainable infrastructure, which he knew had huge potential with federal contracts. David was well aware the government is a massive buyer, but trying to secure a contract felt like deploying to some bureaucratic hellscape. For months, he found himself lost on SAM.gov, the System for Award Management, looking at solicitations that might as well have been in a dead language. Patriot Builds was a small, agile, veteran-owned outfit, but David just couldn’t crack the code. How was it that a veteran-owned small business, with what should have been a clear edge, kept striking out on jobs that seemed perfect for them?
Key Takeaways
- Getting your business properly registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is the first real step for federal contracting, and you have to be detail-oriented and renew it every single year.
- Obtaining a certification like Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives you a serious competitive advantage for set-aside contracts.
- Go to industry days and network with government contracting officers. It’s where you get real intel on what agencies actually need and build relationships that can lead to subcontracts or even direct awards.
- You need a targeted capability statement that spells out exactly what your business does better than anyone else and shows your relevant past performance to make a good first impression on federal buyers.
- You have to understand the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and agency-specific supplements to stay compliant and get paid. Screwing this up leads to costly mistakes.
David’s frustration was easy to see. He’d served his country, led teams in some pretty hairy situations, but wrestling with the world of federal contracts felt harder than any of it. His company, Patriot Builds, was running out of Lawrenceville, Georgia, doing green construction work, everything from putting solar panels on government buildings to low-impact landscaping for military bases. He knew the Department of Defense (DoD) had big sustainability goals and the General Services Administration (GSA) was always hunting for green solutions. The work was out there. He just couldn’t get to it.
“I’d sit on SAM for hours, filtering by NAICS codes, trying to find anything for ‘sustainable construction’ or ‘renewable energy’,” David said, stirring his coffee at a diner in Gwinnett County. “I’d find opportunities, some even set aside for small business, but the requirements were a brick wall, and I had no idea who to even call. It felt like screaming into a black hole.”
His story is common. A lot of veteran entrepreneurs have the leadership skills and drive but find the federal contracting world impossible. The mountain of regulations, the jargon, the faceless online portals, it’s enough to make you quit. The federal government is the planet’s biggest customer, spending hundreds of billions a year, and that’s a huge opportunity for businesses, especially those owned by veterans. In fiscal year 2023, small businesses won $177.5 billion in federal contracts, hitting 28.4% of the total spend and blowing past the 23% goal, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Procurement Scorecard. The target for veteran-owned businesses is 3%, and for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, it’s another 3%. Those percentages sound small, but they add up to billions in revenue.
David’s first, and very common, mistake was half-assing the initial registration. He got Patriot Builds on SAM.gov, but he didn’t fully build out the profile. “I just put in the basics, got a DUNS number, and figured I was done,” he admitted. The problem is, the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) was phased out and replaced by the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) back in April 2022, a small detail David had completely missed. SAM.gov now assigns the UEI directly during registration, which makes one part simpler but shows how critical it is to have current information. Because his SAM profile was incomplete and his NAICS codes didn’t perfectly match his skills, David’s company was basically invisible to contracting officers searching the database.
The SBA and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have some great veteran resources set up to help guys like David. The most powerful are the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) certification programs. For a long time, the VA’s VetBiz portal handled this. But on January 1, 2023, the SBA took over and became the one and only certifier for SDVOSB and VOSB status for the whole government, a move meant to make things less confusing. This meant if Patriot Builds had an old VA certification, it needed to be recertified with the SBA. A lot of vets missed the memo on this change and suddenly found their certifications were useless for new government work.
David found out about this during a workshop put on by the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC), which is a Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) that gives free help to businesses trying to win government work. “The GTPAC counselor pulled up my SAM profile and just started pointing out all the holes,” David said. “She walked me through the SBA’s new SDVOSB certification and why it was so important for winning set-aside contracts.” The SBA’s Veteran Contracting Programs website has all the details on this, from eligibility rules to the actual application portal.
That counselor also hammered home the need for a solid capability statement. This is a one- or two-page document that’s your company’s resume for federal agencies. It needs to lay out your core skills, past work, what makes you different, and your relevant NAICS codes. David’s first one was junk, just listing “construction services.” The GTPAC counselor helped him rewrite it to focus on the specific sustainable projects Patriot Builds had done (even small commercial ones) and connect them to what federal agencies care about. For example, “general construction” became “Specializing in LEED-certified building retrofits and solar array installations, with demonstrated experience in reducing operational costs for commercial facilities by up to 20%.”
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Beyond the paperwork, you have to build relationships. In federal contracting, it’s often about who knows what you can do. David started showing up to “industry days” and “matchmaking events” that agencies like the GSA and the Army Corps of Engineers were hosting at places like the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. These events are where you can actually meet contracting officers, people from prime contractors, and other small business owners. “I felt totally out of my depth at first,” David admitted. “Felt like everyone was speaking a different language.”
But he kept going, and with a better elevator pitch, things started to click. He met someone from Teamwork Solutions, a big prime contractor with a huge GSA Schedule contract for facilities management. It turns out Teamwork Solutions was looking for SDVOSB subcontractors to help them meet their small business goals. Partnering with larger primes is a major entry point for a lot of small businesses. The government makes large prime contractors create subcontracting plans to push a piece of the contract value down to small and disadvantaged businesses, including veteran-owned companies. The SBA’s Subcontracting Guide has more on that.
That first meeting with Teamwork Solutions led to another. David showed them his new capability statement, the one that really sold Patriot Builds’ green building skills. They were impressed with his focus on sustainability, which is a growing demand from their own federal clients. They gave Patriot Builds a small subcontract to install energy-efficient lighting in a federal building in downtown Atlanta, near the Richard B. Russell Federal Building. It was a foot in the door, a chance to prove they could deliver quality work on time.
The subcontract wasn’t easy. David had to get up to speed fast on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which is the bible for federal procurement. “The prime had a compliance officer who walked us through all of it,” David explained. “Stuff like how to invoice, data security rules, even the exact type of screws we were allowed to use had to meet FAR standards. It was a firehose of information, but you have to learn it.” Not knowing the FAR can get your payments delayed, your contract canceled, or even land you in legal trouble. Agencies also have their own rules on top of the FAR, like the Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), adding more complexity. To stay compliant, you have to stay informed, and PTACs and the SBA have plenty of training for it.
Patriot Builds nailed the lighting job and got great feedback from Teamwork Solutions. That small project became a piece of past performance, which is gold when federal agencies are looking at your bids. They want to see you’ve successfully finished similar jobs. Without that first bit of past performance, winning a direct federal contract is a lot harder, which is why subcontracting is such a smart way for small businesses to get started.
With that win under his belt, David got another, bigger subcontract from Teamwork Solutions, this time for a water conservation project at a military facility in Fort McPherson. This let Patriot Builds dial in its processes and strengthen its relationship with the prime. The big break came when the GSA put out a solicitation for a large sustainable infrastructure project at a federal facility in Gainesville, Georgia. It was a direct contract, not a subcontract, and it was a specific set-aside for SDVOSBs.
With a clean SAM profile, his SBA certification, a sharp capability statement, and real past performance from the subcontracts, David felt ready to go for it. He used everything he’d learned from GTPAC and from working with Teamwork Solutions. He understood the technical specs, the pricing details, and how to sell Patriot Builds’ value in a way that federal buyers would get. He even called the GSA contracting officer to ask for a clarification on one of the clauses, a move that scares a lot of small businesses but actually shows you’re engaged and know what you’re doing.
Patriot Builds won the GSA contract. It was proof of David’s grit, his willingness to learn the ropes, and his smart use of the available veteran resources. The project, worth a little over $1.2 million, was to upgrade HVAC systems and install smart building controls to cut energy use by 30%. It was a huge moment for Patriot Builds, turning it from a struggling startup into a real-deal federal contractor.
David’s story shows that winning federal contracts as a veteran isn’t about getting lucky. It’s about doing your homework, networking strategically, and never stopping learning. The government wants to give contracts to veterans because they know we’re disciplined and committed, but you’re the one who has to learn to work the system. Using groups like the SBA and PTACs, getting a handle on the regulations, and building up a solid history of past performance aren’t just good ideas. They’re mandatory.
If you’re a vet thinking about federal contracting, start by obsessing over your SAM.gov profile and getting the right certifications from the SBA. Those first bureaucratic steps are what open the door to billions of dollars in potential contracts. To see how other vets are handling business and career shifts, check out 70% of Veterans Seek New Careers by 2026.
What is the first step for a veteran-owned business to pursue federal contracts?
First thing you have to do is register your business in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) to get your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Make sure this registration is totally complete and accurate, with the right NAICS codes for what you do, and then set a calendar reminder to renew it every year or it won’t be active.
How does a veteran business get certified as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)?
Since January 1, 2023, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is the only agency that certifies businesses for both SDVOSB and VOSB status. You have to go to the SBA’s certification portal and apply, proving that you meet the strict eligibility rules for veteran ownership and control.
What is a capability statement and why is it important for federal contracting?
It’s a one- or two-page resume for your business. It needs to quickly tell a contracting officer what you do (core competencies), what you’ve done (past performance), what makes you different, and your NAICS codes. It’s important because it’s often the first thing a federal buyer sees and it determines if they’ll even consider you.
Can small veteran-owned businesses realistically win large federal contracts directly?
It’s possible, but most small veteran-owned businesses get their start by subcontracting for a larger prime contractor first. This is the practical way to build up your past performance, learn the ropes of federal regulations like the FAR, and establish some credibility before you start bidding on your own prime contracts.
Where can veteran entrepreneurs find free assistance for federal contracting?
You can get free help from Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs), which are now called APEX Accelerators. The Small Business Administration (SBA) also provides a ton of resources, workshops, and direct counseling for veteran business owners trying to break into government contracting.
