If you are a veteran seeking government market opportunities, this episode is for you! Effective January 1st, 2024, you must secure formal certification from the SBA to participate (and be eligible for award) in veteran (and service-disabled veteran) owned small business set-aside and sole-source contracting opportunities. Self-certification will no longer be accepted. Despite many efforts by the SBA, APEX Accelerators, Govology, VBOCs, and others to get the word out, most veterans registered in SAM still have not achieved formal verification through the VA or certification through the SBA. Here are the numbers as of 10/11/2023, according to the SBA's Dynamic Small Business Search Database (DSBS.SBA.GOV): there are currently 82,537 self-certified veteran-owned small businesses listed in the database, of which only 18,947 SDVOSBs have an active certification (less than 23%) and only 5,692 VOSBs show an active certification (less than 7%). In this episode, Carroll and Michael discuss the implications of such low numbers of certified SDVOSBs and VOSBs and share resources to help veterans get their certification done as soon as possible.