S. 1621Senate116th Congress (2019-2021)In Committee

BRAVE Act

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Updated April 14, 2026 at 5:30 AM UTC

The BRAVE Act would let the Secretary of Veterans Affairs give contracting preference to companies that employ veterans full‑time when awarding VA procurement contracts. The preference would be based on the percentage of a contractor’s full‑time workforce that are veterans. The bill also adds penalties for firms that lie about veteran employment, allowing the VA to bar them from future contracts for at least five years.

Key Provisions

The VA Secretary may favor offerors that employ veterans full‑time when awarding contracts for goods or services, using the proportion of veteran employees as the measure.
If an offeror is found to have willfully misrepresented veteran employment, the VA can debar the company and its principals for a minimum of five years.
The debarment process must be started within 30 days of the finding and completed within 90 days.
Title 38, U.S. Code, is updated to add a new Section 8129 covering this preference and its enforcement, and the table of sections is amended accordingly.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Veterans' Affairs Committee

May 22, 2019

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

May 22, 2019

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Veterans' Affairs Committee

May 22, 2019

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued May 22, 2019

116th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 1621

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

May 22, 2019

Ms. Baldwin (for herself and Mr. Tillis) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in awarding a contract for the procurement of goods or services, to give a preference to offerors that employ veterans, and for other purposes.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment Act or the BRAVE Act.

Preference for offerors employing veterans

(a)

In general

Subchapter II of chapter 81 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 8128 the following new section:

8129.

Preference for offerors employing veterans

(a)

Preference

In awarding a contract for the procurement of goods or services, the Secretary may give a preference to offerors that employ veterans on a full-time basis. The Secretary shall determine such preference based on the percentage of the full-time employees of the offeror who are veterans.

(b)

Enforcement penalties for misrepresentation

(1)

Any offeror that is determined by the Secretary to have willfully and intentionally misrepresented the veteran status of the employees of the offeror for purposes of subsection (a) may be debarred from contracting with the Department for a period of not less than five years.

(2)

If the Secretary carries out a debarment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall commence debarment action against the offeror by not later than 30 days after determining that the offeror willfully and intentionally misrepresented the veteran status of the employees of the offeror as described in paragraph (1) and shall complete debarment actions against such offeror by not later than 90 days after such determination.

(3)

The debarment of an offeror under paragraph (1) includes the debarment of all principals in the offeror for a period of not less than five years.

(b)

Clerical amendment

The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 8128 the following new item:

8129. Preference for offerors employing veterans.