Orange County Service-Disabled Veteran Business Preference

Section 17-317 of the Orange County Code, the Service-Disabled Veteran Business Program Ordinance (2011), applies to all county procurement. Who. A business certified by the State's Department of Management Services under section 295.187 that has 200 or fewer full-time employees and a net worth with affiliates of $5 million or less, is domiciled in Florida and located in the Orlando metropolitan area (Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties), and is at least 51% owned and run by service-disabled veterans: Florida residents with a VA service-connected disability, or discharged by the Defense Department for disability. Management may instead be by the spouse or permanent caregiver of a veteran with a permanent and total disability. There is no minimum rating. Send the State certification, and each renewal, to the county's Business Development Division before bidding. The preference. On sealed bids, the business may be awarded the contract if its bid is no more than 8% above the low bid on contracts up to $100,000, 7% up to $500,000, 6% up to $750,000, 5% up to $2 million, 4% up to $5 million and 3% above that. On requests for proposals, it gets 5 points as prime, and any proposer gets 2 points for each certified subconsultant, up to 10. Between otherwise equal offers the county must choose it, and between two preferred businesses, the one with the smaller net worth. The State definition has moved on. Since chapter 2012-159, section 295.187 certifies a "veteran business enterprise" owned and run by wartime veterans or service-disabled veterans. The county ordinance still uses the older service-disabled-only definition, so a business certified by the State on wartime service alone gets no county preference.