From: Haytham Faraj
Sent: Thu 12/08/2011 7:17 AM
To: 'Wolford Lisa'
Subject: RE: Quality Support's ongoing verification nightmare with CVE at VA - It is UNSATISFACTORY
You and Wayne are on solid legal grounds. The abuses you’re experiencing are a result of incompetence on the part of the employees and ambivalence by their managers. We can draft a complaint on your behalf and file it. It will certainly get their attention. We can also do the same thing for Wayne. I suspect that once their lawyers get it and have to call the Justice department to brief them on this new law suit that has to be responded to, they will quickly move to resolve. When any agency of the Federal Government gets sued, Justice department has the duty of responding and they get upset when they feel they’re wasting their time responding to law suits that with legitimate claims that should be settled by the agency.
From: Wolford Lisa [mailto:lisa@csss.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2011 12:16 AM
To: haytham@puckettfaraj.com
Subject: FW: Quality Support's ongoing verification nightmare with CVE at VA - It is UNSATISFACTORY
Wayne is a friend of mine (USMC retired) and you can see what is going on...
Lisa N. Wolford
CSSS.NET
402-393-8059w
402-393-1825f
SDVOB, 8(a)/SDB & WOB - TS clearances
From: Wayne Gatewood, Jr
Sent: Wed 12/07/2011 4:52 PM
To: Wayne Gatewood, Jr
Subject: Quality Support's ongoing verification nightmare with CVE at VA - It is UNSATISFACTORY
Greetings Folks: News will be out tonight sometime but just had to get this information to you and get it off my chest before I blow a gasket!
After initially being refused CVE verification back in August 2011 because CVE said I was a large business, I submitted a reconsideration letter. Reconsideration by Law is supposed to take 60 Days. Here we are more than 90 days later and what do I receive? A request for more information from CVE...so, when you add the time I initially put in for verification (February 2011), to now, we are looking at almost 10 months! Now...all of a sudden, I have five working days to get everything they want back to them! They will get what they want but you have to ask yourself folks....what kind of operation is this?
WHY does someone have to submit an entirely new package? I previously submitted everything they are asking for minus the 2010 Taxes (I submitted 2009). Also, why are they asking what my PRIMARY NAICS is? For God's sake, I have more than one NAICS as do many of you all. What they are trying to do is see if I am in fact a small business under my NAICS and YES I am. They can go to CCR now that it is corrected and see what my NAICS are...they can see my income and revenue that was already submitted to them and simply do the verification! They made it a point to obtain a CCR page to deny verification...now why not use it to support verification? They can go to the question sheet that I already answered six months ago to find the answers to all of the other questions they are once again asking.
This to me is a clear sense of harassment from CVE. Why in the hell do we have to put up with this sort of abuse and insanity? It is a deplorable situation and I cannot understand why General Shinseki himself has not stepped in to make some heads roll.
By the way folks. I work 8 hours a day (and sometimes more) running my Company and I do my Veterans News and such at night as many of you are aware. I say this since I am sure CVE would like to know what I do with my time. In essence, it is really none of their business how I run my Company as long as I own it, control it, manage, and run it....and I do, and have been doing it for 22 years without the help of CVE to tell me how to do it!!
Sorry to spout off folks but I have simply had it with these people. You can see the e-mail below from Attorney Lee Dougherty...Army Ranger. Enough is enough folks. Someone has got to put a stop to this insanity.
Again, thanks for letting me vent...I needed to get this off my chest. Again, you can start reading from the CVE VA e-mail at the bottom than read on up to my e-mail back to CVE and then Attorney Lee Dougherty's e-mail.
Sincerely..................Wayne
Wayne M. Gatewood, Jr. USMC (Ret)
President/CEO
Quality Support, Inc.
A Service Disabled Veteran and Minority Owned-Small Business
8201 Corporate Drive, Suite 220
Landover, MD 20785
301-459-3777 EXT 101 - Fax 301-459-6961
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their Nation." - George Washington
From: Lee Dougherty [LDougherty@generalcounsellaw.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 5:09 PM
To: Wayne Gatewood, Jr; Tom Leney, OSDBU, VA and Vet; Lauren.O'Brien2@va.gov
Cc: Jami Carnagey; Barbara Parham; rweidman@vva.org; V Bob Hesser MCPO USN Ret; Eric Hannel, HSBC; Marty Herbert, House Committee Vets Affairs; Mark_Brunner@warner.senate.gov; Ms. Darienne M. Page, Veteran
Subject: RE: DUNS#: 077 523 426 Quality Support, Inc. CVE Verification - Quality Support, Inc.
Wayne,
Thank you for keeping me informed of your situation. We have heard of so many cases recently of nightmares like yours. And in many cases, like yours, the reason for the initial denial was a government mistake.
It seems like such an easy thing to put a process in place whereby an intent to deny letter is sent and then a Veteran is given a period of time to correct the error. If it is corrected the Veteran would be approved. If the Veteran is not able to correct in that period then they can apply for reconsideration, which should ONLY ADDRESS THE ISSUE WHICH CAUSED THEIR DENIAL. In the event that the business falls into a high risk category then a total review could take place, but that should be the exception, not the rule. If this had been in place you would not be going through this now nor would many of the other Veterans who call me desperate for help. Of course this is difficult when, contrary to claims of expediency, ten months pass from the time you start the process to when you are finally able to have your request for reconsideration considered.
If more time and resources were put into educating and assisting Veterans on the front end rather than being so quick to deny them there would be far less need for contractors, like Ms. O’Brien, to be hired to deal with the onslaught of requests for reconsideration. When I see fellow Veterans like you being put through bureaucratic hell and your very livelihood threatened because of a broken system it is difficult not to get angry at an agency whose sole purpose for existence should be to support the health and welfare of those men and women who stepped forward willing to give their all. Between ignoring “Veterans First” and not taking adequate steps to support Veteran small business owners the current leadership at VA is not leading from the front like they should be.
I hope that your pleas for support are heard not only to resolve your situation but to fix a broken system that unintentionally hurts some Veterans who in many cases are just trying to survive. As I told you last week at the HVAC Subcommittee hearing, I am optimistic that we are being heard and things will change for the better. I continue to be available to assist you in any way I can my friend.
Lee Dougherty, Esq.
General Counsel, P.C.
6862 Elm Street, Suite 800
McLean, VA 22101
Main: 703-556-0411
Direct: 703-226-1869
Fax: 703-556-6540
mailto:mgreen@generalcounsellaw.com
http://www.generalcounsellaw.com/
TAX ADVICE DISCLAIMER: Under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations, we are required to inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this email or any attachment hereto is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, either (i) for purposes of avoiding penalties imposed under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) for promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matter addressed herein.
CONFIDENTIALITY/PRIVILEGE: This electronic message transmission contains information from this law firm which may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify us by telephone (703-556-0411) or by electronic mail immediately.
From: Wayne Gatewood, Jr [mailto:wgatewood@qualitysupport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 4:16 PM
To: Tom Leney, OSDBU, VA and Vet; Lauren.O'Brien2@va.gov
Cc: Lee Dougherty; Jill Aitoro; Jami Carnagey; Barbara Parham; V Rick Weidman (rweidman@vva.org); V Bob Hesser MCPO USN Ret; Eric Hannel, HSBC; Marty Herbert, House Committee Vets Affairs; Mark_Brunner@warner.senate.gov; Ms. Darienne M. Page, Veteran
Subject: FW: DUNS#: 077 523 426 Quality Support, Inc. CVE Verification - Quality Support, Inc.
Ms. Obrien, regarding your e-mail below...you give me 8 days to get this to you after CVE has sat on my reconsideration request for more than the past 90 days? The Law I believe gives you 60 days to process a reconsideration request and get it back to the member. We are past 90 days now and here I go again, sending in documentation that has already been provided during the initial process!
Almost every document you are asking for was already provided along with follow up documentation to boot. Back in February when we started this Verification process, we submitted 2009 Taxes but will provide 2010 as well, now that you have asked for them.
I will get this information to you but this process is very clearly unsatisfactory. Ninety days for you to sit on my reconsideration letter and than I get this e-mail from you telling me you need all of this documentation (much of it already provided)?
BTW, Lydia Miller is no longer with the Company so all e-mails should be addressed to me. If you all had taken the time to look at the documentation I provided since this past August together with the original submission, you would have seen the updated information I had sent in that reveals I am the sole officer and Director for my company at 100% ownership. Where is that documentation I sent in?
In conclusion, the documentation you have asked for is forthcoming.
Lee: Please follow this process with me as I have simply had it with this fiasco and harassment. How the hell can someone run a SDVOSB with this ongoing nonsense.
Mark: If possible I would like an appointment with Senator Warner ASAP...thanks.
Jill: Another Article for WBJ!
HVAC Subcommittee staff; House and Senate Small Business Committee; US Chamber of Commerce Staff, and SBA Officials: I want you to see for yourself what happens after I waited 90 days from the time I submitted reconsideration paper work. The existing paper work I originally submitted together with recent follow up documentation is detailed enough for a decision to be made but here we go again. This is nothing more than harassment. Can someone at HVAC put a stop to this insanity and harassment? They are asking me for documentation I have given them in almost every case. Also, I answered the same questions more than six months ago!
Jami and Barb: Please start getting the paper work together for submission.
Wayne Gatewood
Wayne M. Gatewood, Jr. USMC (Ret)
President/CEO
Quality Support, Inc.
A Service Disabled Veteran and Minority Owned-Small Business
8201 Corporate Drive, Suite 220
Landover, MD 20785
301-459-3777 EXT 101 - Fax 301-459-6961
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how
From: O'Brien, Lauren (GCC Technologies) <Lauren.O'Brien2@va.gov>;
To: <vespersfire@yahoo.com>;
Subject: DUNS#: 077 523 426 Quality Support, Inc.
Sent: Wed, Dec 7, 2011 5:26:38 PM