Disabled veterans business program vulnerable to fraud, report finds

A VA program designed to help small businesses owned by disabled veterans is ripe for abuse, possibly having handed out $90 million in fraudulent contracts in six months according to a study by the Government Accountability Office.

Applications for government contracts are supposed to be checked following a system set forth in the Veterans Small Business Verification Act of 2010.  But the study found the Veterans Affairs Department wasn't using the process to verify about 60 percent of the businesses, making it difficult to determine if money was given to fraudulent claims, the GAO said.