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The 3% Contracting Goal — a Goal, Not a Set-Aside

C.R.S. §24-103-905 sets a 3% state contracting goal for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Agencies may give a preference in competitive bids, but the gate is federal SBA verification and subcontracts do not count.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: A 3% statewide contracting goal, and a preference agencies may apply in competitive bids

The department states the goal at 3% of state contracting for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, as set by §24-103-905 C.R.S.
Goods and services over $50,000 are published for public solicitation when no price agreement or statewide contract is in place, and agencies may give a preference in those competitive bids or proposals.
What an individual business wins depends on what it does and how it bids, so no figure is published here.

This record exists to correct a myth. Published summaries get this Colorado benefit wrong. The record below is what the source actually says.

Who is entitled to it

You run, or are forming, a business here.
You hold a service-connected disability rating.
Your home is in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

1Get verified as an SDVOSB through the U.S. Small Business Administration first. The state counts the federal verification — there is no separate state certificate to apply for.
2Make sure the business is located here in the sense the state means: incorporated or organised here, or maintaining an office or place of business here.
3Bid as the prime. Subcontracts do not count toward the 3% goal, so a subcontracting role gets you the work but not the programme.
4Include proof of SDVOSB status from the SBA in any response to a solicitation that applies the preference — the department states this is required at submission.
5Register on ColoradoVSS, where most agencies post solicitations, and select commodity codes to be notified of new opportunities.

File with: Statewide Equity Office, Department of Personnel and Administration
Documents you will need: va benefit summary letter
Periodic recertification: Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.

Worth knowingGoal, preference, set-aside — three different things, and only the first two are here. A goal is a target the state measures itself against; a preference is discretionary at the agency; a set-aside would exclude other bidders from a contract entirely, and nothing read here does that.

Worth knowingThree conditions have to hold together for a contract to count: SBA verification, a location in this state, and a direct contract with the state. Missing any one of them takes the contract out of the count, which is why prime-versus-subcontractor matters so much.

Known gapHow agencies actually apply the discretionary preference in a competitive bid — points, percentage or tiebreak — is not stated on the page read here, and this record publishes no mechanism.

Sources

authority · published policyStatewide Equity Office — Contracting Goal for State Partnerships with Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (C.R.S. §24-103-905)

Why only one source type: The administering office states the statutory citation, the percentage and all three qualifying conditions on its own page. The statute text itself was not read alongside it this session.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.