Field notes · July 16, 2026 · Valentor
Every federal registration a new veteran-owned business needs costs zero dollars. Not discounted, not fee-waived for veterans, free for everyone by design: SAM.gov and your Unique Entity ID are $0, the IRS EIN is $0, SBA VetCert SDVOSB certification is $0, your DSBS small-business profile is $0, APEX Accelerator counseling is $0, SCORE mentoring is $0. GSA says it directly: entity registration is free to obtain and free to maintain, and the Federal Service Desk warns about third parties who charge for it (GSA, "Register your business"; fsd.gov guidance). We are a Virginia LLC formed in July 2026. We are working through this exact sequence right now, and the federal government has not asked us for a dollar.
Why the paid-registration industry exists
The credential at the end of this sequence is worth real money, and the scam sells the inference that it must therefore cost real money.
It is worth real money because certification is now the only gate. Since January 1, 2024, SDVOSB set-aside and sole-source awards can only go to firms SBA has certified through VetCert; self-certification is dead (FAR 19.1406). Since December 22, 2024, agencies and large primes only get SDVOSB goaling credit for SBA-certified firms (SBA rule implementing NDAA FY2024 sec. 864, 89 FR 48266). And the pool behind that gate grew: NDAA FY2024 Section 863 raised the government-wide SDVOSB prime contracting goal from 3% to 5% (15 U.S.C. 644(g)(1)), and FY2025 closed with $32.5 billion awarded to SDVOSBs, over the 5% target (SBA FY25 scorecard, June 25, 2026). The VA runs hotter still: under Vets First (38 U.S.C. 8127) it must prioritize certified SDVOSBs ahead of every other socioeconomic program, and in FY2024 it put about $10.2 billion, roughly 23% of its prime dollars, into SDVOSB awards (VA OSDBU). A contracting officer can sole-source up to $5 million for services, $8.5 million for manufacturing, to a single certified SDVOSB (FAR 19.1406; thresholds set by FAC 2025-06, eff. Oct 1, 2025).
So the inference is half right: the certification is worth real money. The registration steps to reach it still cost nothing.
The $0 list, item by item
- SAM.gov entity registration and UEI. Free to register, free to renew. Allow up to 10 business days for the registration to activate, and renew every 365 days to keep it active (GSA; sam.gov entity registration). The renewal is also free, forever.
- EIN. Free at irs.gov, issued immediately online. There is no such thing as an EIN filing fee.
- SBA VetCert SDVOSB certification. Free at veterans.certify.sba.gov. Valid three years before recertification (13 CFR 128.306). SBA cleared its application backlog and reported average processing of about 12 days as of November 2025, down from 81 days at the end of 2024 (SBA release, Nov 11, 2025).
- DSBS profile. Generated from your SAM registration at no cost. This is where VA buyers and prime contractors do market research, so the capability narrative and keywords deserve actual effort, but not actual money.
- APEX Accelerator counseling. Free, DoD-funded, one-on-one: SAM registration help, capability statement review, bid matching. Find your local office by ZIP at apexaccelerators.us.
- SCORE mentoring. Free, at score.org.
If you are in Virginia like us, add the state layer: the SWaM service-disabled-veteran designation is also no charge. It is a two-step process: the Department of Veterans Services confirms your service-disabled status first, then SBSD applies the SDV designation in the vendor database. The designation plugs you into eVA, the Commonwealth's procurement portal (Virginia SBSD; DVS).
How the scam pattern works
SAM.gov registration data is public, and the 365-day renewal clock gives a predictable hook. As your expiration approaches, the calls and emails start: official-sounding company names, .us or .com domains dressed up in eagles and flags, urgent warnings that your registration will lapse, and a fee, typically a few hundred dollars, to "process" or "expedite" something the government processes for free. Some of these firms do file the paperwork they charge for. That does not make the fee necessary. It makes it a markup on a $0 service, sold through manufactured urgency.
The test is one question: does the site end in .gov? SAM.gov, irs.gov, sba.gov, fsd.gov. If someone not on that list wants payment for a registration, you are buying the impression of access.
Free help, from people whose job it is: the Federal Service Desk at fsd.gov or 866-606-8220 for anything SAM-related, and your local APEX Accelerator (apexaccelerators.us, search by ZIP) for everything else in this pipeline.
The order we are running it in
Valentor Services Group LLC filed in Virginia in July 2026: two founders, veteran-controlled, SBA SDVOSB certification in progress. This is our actual sequence:
- VA rating letter first. The service-disabled veteran downloads his VA Benefit Summary Letter from va.gov and confirms it shows a service-connected determination. Any rating qualifies, including 0%. Nothing else in the SDVOSB path works without this document, so it goes first, not fifth.
- Formation and operating agreement. The LLC is filed; the operating agreement is drafted so the veteran unambiguously controls day-to-day operations and long-term decisions under 13 CFR 128.203, with the minority member's consent rights held strictly to SBA's extraordinary-action list. For a 51/49 firm this clause set is where certifications die. SBA's own appeals office reversed a denial on exactly our structure in Blue Skye Foods (SBA No. VSBC-442-A, Sept. 2025) because the minority protections stayed inside that safe list. We are paying a government-contracts attorney to review ours anyway.
- EIN from irs.gov. Ten minutes, $0.
- SAM.gov registration through Login.gov, with our NAICS codes selected (541511 primary for custom software, plus 541512, 541613, 541810, 541430, all comfortably under their SBA size standards of $9M to $34M in five-year average receipts). Then we wait out the activation window.
- DSBS profile completed deliberately, since that is the shelf federal buyers browse.
- VetCert application at veterans.certify.sba.gov with formation documents, operating agreement, and the VA letter attached.
- APEX Accelerator intake and the Virginia SWaM/SDV designation, stacked on top.
Our real spending so far: Virginia's LLC filing fee (about a hundred dollars, plus a small annual registration fee) and the attorney review. Both are state or private costs. The federal total remains $0.
Do this next
If you are a veteran starting this path this week: download your VA Benefit Summary Letter today and confirm the service-connected line. Get your EIN at irs.gov. Register at sam.gov yourself, and when you get stuck, call the Federal Service Desk at 866-606-8220 instead of paying whoever emailed you. Put your ZIP code into apexaccelerators.us and book the free counseling session before you spend money on any consultant. Then apply at veterans.certify.sba.gov; at roughly 12-day average processing, certification is likely faster than your SAM activation was.
And when the renewal-season phone calls start next year, you will know exactly what they are selling: a free form, at a markup.