Education & Employment

Missouri Procurement Preference for Veteran-Owned Businesses

Two parallel three-point bonus preferences with three percent goals, one for any honorably discharged veteran-owned enterprise created in 2026 and one for service-disabled veteran businesses, and a business may take only one. Both bind every political subdivision as well as the state.

Also called: 34.069, 34.074, service-disabled veteran business, SDVE, three-point bonus, three percent goal, 51 percent, political subdivision.

For: Veteran or service member.

Where it applies

Written for the jurisdictions listed here.

MissouriState

Missouri now runs two veteran procurement preferences side by side. Laws 2026 H.B. 2593 created the second one and made a business choose. Section 34.074 is the older provision. In letting contracts for the performance of any job or service, all agencies, departments, institutions and other entities of this state and of each political subdivision of this state shall give a three-point bonus preference to service-disabled veteran businesses doing business as Missouri firms, corporations or individuals, or which maintain Missouri offices or places of business. The commissioner of administration has a goal of three percent of all such contracts being let to such veterans, and the goal does not apply where no or an insufficient number of qualifying veterans submit a bid or proposal. A "service-disabled veteran" for that section is "any individual who is disabled as certified by the appropriate federal agency responsible for the administration of veterans' affairs". There is no percentage. Any compensable service-connected rating certified by VA is enough, which makes this one of the least demanding disability gates in the file. A "service-disabled veteran business" is a business concern at least fifty-one percent of which is owned by one or more service-disabled veterans, or in the case of a publicly owned business at least fifty-one percent of the stock, and whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more service-disabled veterans. Ownership alone is not enough; control is a separate requirement. Section 34.069, enacted by the same 2026 act and effective August 28, 2026, is the new one. It gives the identical three-point bonus preference and three percent goal to "honorably discharged veteran-owned enterprises" doing business as Missouri firms or maintaining Missouri offices. An honorably discharged veteran is any individual honorably discharged from any branch of the United States Armed Forces as certified by the appropriate federal agency. The enterprise forms are the same as under 34.074: a sole proprietorship owned and controlled by an honorably discharged veteran; a partnership or joint venture at least fifty-one percent owned by honorably discharged veterans with management and daily operations controlled by one or more of them; or a corporation or other entity at least fifty-one percent owned, or fifty-one percent of the stock owned, by honorably discharged veterans with the same control requirement. The two do not stack. Section 34.069.3(3) and section 34.074.4(3) each say that a business receiving bonus points under one section shall not receive bonus points under the other. A service-disabled veteran who owns a qualifying business gets three points, not six, and must elect which programme to be certified under. Because the points are identical, the practical question is which certification is easier to obtain and maintain, not which is worth more. Both preferences reach political subdivisions by their own terms, which is rarer than it sounds. A city, county or school district letting a contract in Missouri is bound by the same three-point rule as the Office of Administration. The commissioner of administration may promulgate rules for both. Neither section states how a "three-point bonus" is applied to a solicitation that is not scored out of one hundred, which is left to those rules and to the individual solicitation documents.

Thresholds

Thresholds for Missouri Procurement Preference for Veteran-Owned Businesses
Gate	Rule
Any VA-certified service-connected disability, with no percentage	Section 34.074.1 defines a service-disabled veteran as any individual disabled as certified by the appropriate federal agency responsible for the administration of veterans’ affairs. No rating percentage appears in the section.
Or an honorable discharge, under the 2026 section	Section 34.069.1(1), enacted by Laws 2026 H.B. 2593, reaches any individual honorably discharged from any branch as certified by the appropriate federal agency, with no disability requirement.
At least 51 percent owned and controlled by qualifying veterans	Sections 34.069.1(2) and 34.074.2 both require at least fifty-one percent ownership, or fifty-one percent of the stock of a publicly owned business, and separately require management and daily business operations to be controlled by one or more of the qualifying owners.
A Missouri firm, or one maintaining a Missouri office or place of business	Sections 34.069.2 and 34.074.3.
The two preferences cannot be combined	Sections 34.069.3(3) and 34.074.4(3) each bar a business receiving bonus points under one section from receiving them under the other. Three points, not six.
The three percent goal lapses where too few veteran bidders respond	Sections 34.069.3(2) and 34.074.4(2) suspend the goal where no or an insufficient number of qualifying businesses submit a bid or proposal.

Sources

Legislation

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SS SCS House Bill 2593 (2026) Created a second veteran procurement preference, raised paid military leave, imported the SCRA into state active duty, and stopped offsetting the GI Bill against the Guard tuition waiver

Catalog reconciledEnactedFigure moved Program created Scope changed

Signed 2026-07-09Takes effect 2026-08-28

Introduced Done, 2025-12-29, step 1 of 6
In committee Done, 2026-01-08, step 2 of 6
Passed one chamber Done, 2026-03-02, step 3 of 6
Passed both chambers Done, 2026-04-27, step 4 of 6
Signed by the governor Done, 2026-07-09, step 5 of 6
In effect Done, 2026-08-28, step 6 of 6

Expands benefits Adds a veteran-owned business preference, raises paid military leave to 160 hours and ends the GI Bill offset.

Repealed thirteen sections and enacted twenty-four. Four changes move figures or gates in this catalog. New Mo. Rev. Stat. 34.069 gives a three-point bonus preference and a three percent goal to any honorably discharged veteran-owned enterprise, alongside the existing service-disabled preference in 34.074, and both sections now bar a business from taking points under one after taking them under the other, so the two are mutually exclusive rather than cumulative; both bind every political subdivision as well as the state. Section 105.270 raised paid military leave for state, county, municipal, school district and other public employees from 120 to 160 hours per federal fiscal year for federal service, leaving state-call duty uncapped. Section 40.490 gained two subsections extending all Servicemembers Civil Relief Act rights to Guard members on state active duty for more than thirty consecutive days, which the federal Act does not itself reach, and giving the member a private right of action alongside attorney general enforcement. And section 173.239 struck "GI Bill educational entitlements" from the list of aid applied before the National Guard tuition and fee waiver, so a Guard member holding Post-9/11 entitlement now keeps the waiver on top of it. The act also broadened the medals paragraph of 42.300 from named conflicts to any conflict identified under chapter 42 and created three medallion programmes at once. Tracked because published guidance still prints the 120-hour leave figure, and because the GI Bill offset deletion is invisible from the current statute text.

Sponsor

Touches Mo. Rev. Stat. § 34.069 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 34.074 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 40.490 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 105.270 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 173.239 · Mo. Rev. Stat. § 42.300

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Official record

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Last updated 2026-09-29.

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Disclaimer

VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.