Vets find edge in programs for would-be entrepreneurs

Four years later, the service-disabled veteran, who has a thyroid condition, breast cancer history and lower-back problems, wants to snare more federal contracts.

"I'm going to start targeting Veterans Affairs' hospitals and companies that do business with the government," Shumate said. "I'm just learning how to do the marketing."

While most of Bezalel Designs' business has been small orders for individuals, it recently won a deal with a VA hospital that wanted promotional items such as custom pens and paper. The contract would count toward the VA's goal of awarding 3 percent of its contract dollars to service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses.

Like Shumate, more military veteran entrepreneurs are taking advantage of programs that offer them an edge in competing for federal funds.

With more than 100,000 veteran business owners in Maryland, the ranks of soldiers-turned-entrepreneurs are swelling, as government agencies strive to allocate at least 3 percent of contracting dollars to service-disabled, veteran business owners.

Darryl Rekemeyer, director of the Fort Detrick Business Development office in Frederick, said more such businesses are in his database of more than 3,000 county companies that he connects with Fort Detrick agencies.

Many large, private contractors for Fort Detrick are also searching for service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses that help the federal agencies meet the 3 percent goal set by a 1999 law and strengthened in 2003 with a set-aside provision that earmarks contract dollars for veterans, he said.

"They understand their businesses can prosper because they're using veteran-owned businesses," Rekemeyer said. "Many businesses are finding that veteran-owned businesses have a leg up in finding skilled labor because of their service connections."

‘Serving life and limb

for our country'

Most veteran business owners nationwide — 68 percent — are older than 55, according to a U.S. Census Bureau's 2002 report, its first on veteran-owned businesses. While Rekemeyer had no specific figures, he said Frederick County is seeing more veterans launching businesses and connecting with federal agencies.

"People are serving life and limb for our country," Rekemeyer said. "The least we can do is provide business engagement."

Chris Olson, a consultant with the Maryland Small Business Development Center in Frederick, said "it's probably impossible" to know the exact number of veteran-owned businesses in the area because standard paperwork such as limited liability corporation charters and trade name registrations do not include such information.

Olson has been helping businesses, including DRO Enterprises in Urbana, get the most of their veteran status.

Vietnam War veterans Bill Smith and Dave Mott launched DRO Enterprises in March to tap into the growing interest in energy conservation among federal agencies. The company installs an insulation for attics developed by NASA that reflects heat and will soon be certified to test for airflow leakage.

"All the service branches are looking for ways to save on energy consumption," said Mott, who qualifies as service disabled with severe shrapnel wounds.

Smith and Mott are meeting with a representative from the Washington Naval Yard next week and have recently discussed opportunities at Fort Detrick with an official there. They anticipate major business opportunities when construction on Fort Detrick's 200-acre biodefense campus starts.

Among the companies taking advantage of federal contracting programs is Bikle Manufacturing Inc., owned by Navy veteran Richard Bikle, who founded it in 1971.

The privately held Smithsburg business has had links to other federal agencies through the General Services Administration for several years, said general manager Jon Palmer. With 22 employees, Bikle manufactures and services a variety of metal work and machinery parts. Palmer said he has noted a few more contract opportunities emerge in recent years.

"Obviously we have an advantage over someone who's not a veteran-owned business," Palmer said.

Veteran business owners get

‘big push' of support

Toby Calvo, a Navy pilot who served in the Persian Gulf War, founded a medical supplies distribution company, L1 Enterprises, with his brother, Jaime Calvo, in March 2007.

The company has landed several federal contracts for medical products ranging from large scanning equipment to disposable gauze.

"What we're finding is that by us presenting ourselves and our qualifications and saying we're a vet-owned company, we're well received," Calvo said. "There's a big push to support the veterans, but it's not an entitlement program. You have to know what you're talking about. The federal government is not going to jeopardize what they have to do to put a check on the block for a veteran."

Calvo, who declined to disclose his company's revenues, said the Frederick business has surpassed financial goals set in January, and has started attracting repeat customers throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

L1 Enterprises has started marketing to the National Institutes of Health, which has a presence at Fort Detrick, and, with GTI Federal of Frederick, is one of three teams qualified to bid on service contracts there.

"We found ourselves in a niche," Calvo said. "There was no other service-disabled, veteran-owned business with my brother's product knowledge selling to the federal government. … We'll probably venture out into the private side, but right now our biggest focus is in the federal marketplace."

Ingalls Lumber & Supply of Middletown, owned by service-disabled veterans, is landing contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. The 61-year-old business, purchased by Terry Bowie and Chris Glass in 2006, won a $2.6 million contract in March for crush-and-run gravel, according to the company's Web site.

Since then, Ingalls has connected with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Cancer Institute at Fort Detrick, the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Carson in Colorado and the Treasury Department. Ingalls most recently announced contracts with the National Park Service in West Virginia and the Department of Agriculture in Beltsville.

Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999: Establishes Federal Procurement Goals and provides financial procurement assistance to veteran business owners.

October 2004, Service Disabled Veterans Executive Order: Sets goal of allotting 3 percent of federal contracts to service-disabled, veteran business owners each year.

Veterans Benefits Act of 2003: Provides for set-asides for service-disabled veteran business owners to help meet the 3 percent goal. It was enacted after a review found that more than half of 60 federal agencies did not provide any contracts to these businesses and all had fallen short of the goal.

Veteran business owners in 2002:

U.S. veterans: 23.8 million.

U.S. veteran business owners:

3 million.

Marylanders who are veterans:

13 percent.

Number of veteran-owned small businesses in Maryland: 110,952.

Veteran small-business owners' total income in Maryland: $3.1 billion.

Veteran-owned businesses that are home-based: more than 50 percent

Veteran entrepreneurs with post-graduate degrees: 19 percent.

Veteran business owners who are 55 or older: 68 percent

Loans granted by the U.S. Small Business Administration to veterans each year: $1 billion

Sources: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans business resource center, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Census Bureau 2002 report, VeteransCorp.org