businessstate

15% Price Preference — for Veteran-Owned Micro Businesses Only

Public Act 16-184 amended §4a-59 to give a 15% price preference to veteran-owned micro businesses. Two tests, not one: at least 51% veteran ownership, and gross revenues not over three million dollars in the most recently completed fiscal year. The state veterans department runs a Veteran Owned Micro-Business Certification process, and the preference runs through that certification.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: A 15% price preference in state purchasing, for a certified business at least 51% veteran-owned and under $3 million in revenue

The Department of Administrative Services states that Public Act 16-184 amended §4a-59 to include a 15% price preference for veteran-owned micro businesses.
The ownership test is at least 51% veteran ownership, under CGS 4a-59 as amended by PA 21-79.
A micro business is defined as a business with gross revenues not exceeding three million dollars in the most recently completed fiscal year. Cross that line and the preference stops applying.
The state veterans department publishes a Veteran Owned Micro-Business Certification process. Certification is the route in — the preference is not applied on assertion.
§4a-59(c) separately gives a preference to contractors based in this state when all other factors are equal — a different and much weaker provision.
What a preference is worth depends entirely on what you bid on and against whom, so no figure is published here.

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

Who is entitled to it

You run, or are forming, a business here.
The preference turns on the veteran’s own ownership of the business.
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

1Check the revenue ceiling first. The 15% is real, and it evaporates the year your gross revenues pass three million dollars.
2Look at the set-aside programme under §4a-60g as a separate track. It reserves contracting dollars for certified small contractors, with a share of that reserved for businesses owned by minorities, women or people with disabilities — a different programme from the veteran price preference, with its own certification.
3Confirm with the Department of Administrative Services how the preference is applied to your solicitation before you price a bid around it.

File with: Department of Administrative Services, Procurement
Documents you will need: dd214
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

Worth knowingFifteen percent is the largest veteran price preference in this corpus, and the micro-business ceiling is why it is affordable. A veteran-owned business at four million in revenue gets nothing from this provision.

Worth knowingThis is a price preference, not a set-aside. It adjusts how your bid is evaluated against others; it does not remove other bidders from the contract.

Known gapWhether the preference requires a certification, and how a bidder proves veteran ownership and micro-business size at bid, is not stated on the page read here.

Sources

authority · published policyDepartment of Administrative Services — Contracting Preference Programs (P.A. 16-184 amending Conn. Gen. Stat. §4a-59)

Why only one source type: The procurement manual states the public act, the statute amended, the percentage and the micro-business definition. The statute text itself was not read alongside it — the legislature’s host refused every tool this session.

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